Bitcoin has recovered over 5% during the European session in the last 24 hours, as weaker US inflation figures have increased, triggering a reversal in the crypto market. With renewed optimism about the economy’s future, investors have returned to riskier assets, sending the market price of the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization to $17,250. The continuing FTX unwinding triggered a price drop on Wednesday, sending it to two-year lows.
Overall, the crypto market cap has recovered, but it is still 1.8% lower than yesterday, and the market cap of DeFi coins has dropped by 5.2%. The day was positive for most of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap, as interest in FTX and inflation appeared to decrease.
The FTT token used by FTX, which has been under fire since it was hoarded by the exchange’s sister company Alameda Research, has recently risen by over 25%, reaching $3.45.
Solana’s SOL has recently increased by more than 16%, despite the fact that it featured prominently on Alameda’s balance sheet, causing investor concern.
US Inflation Falls to January’s Low
The US Federal Reserve’s recent diet of hawkish, 75 basis point interest rate hikes has been working to reduce a year-long bout of high inflation, as indicated by Thursday’s unexpectedly good Consumer Price Index report, giving investors reason to be optimistic.
As the US inflation rate dipped somewhat in October, investors became more optimistic that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates less aggressively at their meeting next month.
The annual rate of increase in consumer prices fell to 7.7%, the lowest level since January and below the 8% predicted by experts.
Year-over-year percentage change in the Consumer Price IndexSource: Bureau of Labor Statistics
The widely watched “core” measure, which excludes food and energy costs and is seen as the best forecast for inflation’s future direction, decreased from a four-decade high.
The US dollar is weakening as a result of the weaker CPI figures, which is keeping the crypto market bullish today.
Bitcoin Price Prediction
The current Bitcoin price is $17,183, with a 24-hour trading volume of $62 billion. On November 11, BTC/USD recovered a bit but has given up most of the gains during the European session, and now it’s down over 1.5% in the last 24 hours.
CoinMarketCap currently ranks first, with a live market cap of $330 billion. It has a total supply of 21,000,000 BTC coins and a circulating supply of 19,204,337 BTC coins.
Bitcoin has risen over the $16,000 support level to reclaim the $18,000 level. At the moment, it’s consolidating in a narrow trading range, and a breakout of this will determine further price action.
The BTC/USD pair has already completed a 38.2% Fibonacci retracement at the $18,190 level, and a bullish crossover above this level can expose the BTC price to a 61.8% Fib level of $19,350.
If Bitcoin fails to break over the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of $18.250, it may fall back below $15,965.
Bitcoin Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
The MACD, a leading technical indicator, has entered the buying zone, while the 50-day moving average (blue line) and RSI remain in the selling zone. If closing candles fall below $18,000, BTC may continue bearish, with support at $16,000 and 15,850.
Top Crypto Coins on Pre-Sale
Dash 2 Trade (D2T)
Dash 2 Trade is an Ethereum-based trading intelligence platform that gives traders of all skill levels real-time statistics and social data, helping them to make better-educated decisions. It started its token sale two weeks ago and has now raised over $8.7 million, while also confirming its first CEX listing on LBank exchange.
1 D2T is currently worth 0.0513 USDT, but this will soon rise to $0.0533 in the next stage of sales and $0.0662 in the final stage.
Calvaria is an exciting new cryptocurrency gaming project that has the potential to dominate the play-to-earn market. Two major barriers to widespread Web3 gaming adoption have been identified by Calvaria developers. While investors see the potential of Web3 games, users do not.
Calvaria’s presale, which is already in stage 4 of 10 and close to $1.6 million, is gaining traction. Investors are flocking to the rapidly growing GameFi project as the price of the native RIA token rises significantly at each presale stage.
Tokens cost $0.025 each in stage 4, but by stage 5, the price had risen to $0.03, and tokens cost $0.055 in stage 10.
TARO is yet another project with the potential to transform the gaming community and the virtual world. The asset’s presale has just begun, and there is already a lot of interest from potential buyers.
RobotEra is a blockchain-based metaverse in which users can create avatars and explore a digital world, and TARO is the platform’s native token. Players in RobotEra have access to a wide range of real estate options, including the ability to buy land, build on it, and expand their regions with various infrastructures.
The goal is to create a metaverse in which everyone feels safe and secure in their personal property holdings.
In addition, RobotEra features a shared metaverse where users can participate in a variety of activities, such as sports, concerts, and other competitive events. The first stage of TARO’s presale is now live, and it is selling out quickly.
The market is currently in a news-driven environment where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agenda rather than fundamentals.
Bitfinex analysts have warned crypto investors to be cautious as bitcoin’s (BTC) recovery over the weekend is not a sign that its correction is over; the asset could witness more bloodshed in the near term.
In the latest Bitfinex Alpha report, experts deemed the market’s reaction this week critical, especially as supply alleviated over the weekend could return when traditional markets open.
“No Man’s Land”
Since Saturday, bitcoin has risen almost 10% from $57,600 to $63,000, closing last week in the green. The asset has surged above the 125-day range low of $60,200, which it broke through earlier this month after news of the German government’s massive BTC selling hit the market.
Market sentiment began to improve after reports that wallets linked to the German government were almost empty. However, the positive sentiment may not be sustained for long as the BTC the German authorities moved to trading desks and exchanges are yet to be sold.
While the supply from Germany appears to have been factored into bitcoin’s market price, Bitfinex analysts believe the end of selling pressure depends on how the involved trading desks execute their trades in the coming days.
Although the shift in sentiment underscores the market’s capacity to integrate new information and adjust expectations quickly, analysts think the market’s reaction over the first two trading days of the week cannot be overlooked for two reasons.
First, the low support level in the $60,200 range has now become a potential resistance line. Second, trading patterns over the past three months suggest that weekends are usually favorable for markets, especially on Saturdays when supply pressure seems to subside.
“We are now in no man’s land until we get clear resolution above or below this level,” the analysts said.
A News-Driven Environment
Besides the potential resistance level and three-month weekend trading pattern, the market is currently in a news-driven environment, where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agendas rather than fundamentals.
Since selling pressure concerns are not yet completely obsolete due to upcoming Mt Gox creditor distributions, Bitfinex analysts expect such headlines to continue to have some impact on price movements. As such, the analysts urged investors to exercise caution in their trading strategies.
BlackRock’s IBIT led with $117.25 million in inflows on July 15, also being the most traded Bitcoin ETF.
The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily net inflow of $301 million on July 15th. This extended their winning streak to seven consecutive days amidst a broader market recovery.
None of the ETFs recorded outflows for the day.
Bitcoin ETFs Rake in $16.11B in Net Inflows Since Jan
According to the data compiled by SoSoValue, BlackRock’s IBIT, the top spot Bitcoin ETF by net asset value, recorded the largest net inflows of the day at $117.25 million. IBIT was also the most actively traded Bitcoin ETF on Monday, with a volume of $1.24 billion. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB came in close behind with net inflows of $117.19 million.
Fidelity’s FBTC experienced net inflows of $36.15 million on Monday, while Bitwise’s BITB saw $15.24 million in inflows. VanEck’s HODL, Invesco and Galaxy Digital’s BTCO, and Franklin Templeton’s EZBC funds also recorded net inflows. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC and other ETFs, such as Valkyrie’s BRRR, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Hashdex’s DEFI, registered no flows for the day.
A total of $2.26 billion was traded on Monday. The trading volume for these ETFs was less than in March when it exceeded $8 billion on some days. Meanwhile, these funds have collectively attracted $16.11 billion in net inflow since their January launch.
What’s Next For Bitcoin?
Earlier this month, bitcoin’s price decline was mainly due to fears of massive selling pressure from Mt. Gox and the German government’s BTC sales.
But the assassination attempt on pro-crypto former US President and presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump at Saturday’s rally seemed to spark a recovery in the world’s largest digital asset, and experts are bullish on the asset’s price trajectory going forward. Bitcoin surged more than 9% over the past week and was currently trading slightly below $64,000.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed bitcoin’s price outlook, suggesting a potential major rally. He referred to a pattern he terms “Hump->Slump->Bump->Dump->Pump” and highlighted that the July 5 double top attempt was a bear trap, confirmed by the July 13 close. He sees a likely continued upward trend but warned that a close below $56,000 would negate this bullish view.
“Bitcoin $BTC could be unfolding its often-repeated Hump…Slump…Bump…Dump…Pump chart construction. Jul 5 attempt at the double top was a bear trap, confirmed by Jul 13 close. Most likely scenario now is that bears are trapped. Close below $56k negates this interpretation”
PeckShield alert reveals LI.FI’s protocol vulnerability is similar to a March 2022 attack, with the same bug recurring.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform LI.FI protocol has suffered an exploit amounting to over $8 million.
Cyvers Alerts reported detecting suspicious transactions within the LI.FI cross-chain transaction aggregator.
LI.FI Issues Warning After $8 Million Exploit
LI.FI confirmed the breach in a statement on July 16 via X: “Please do not interact with any http://LI.FI powered applications for now! We’re investigating a potential exploit.” The team clarified that users who did not set infinite approval are not at risk, emphasizing that only those who manually set infinite approvals seem to be affected.
According to Cyvers Alerts, more than $8 million in user funds have been stolen, with the majority being stablecoins. According to on-chain data, the hacker’s wallet holds 1,715 Ether (ETH) valued at $5.8 million and USDC, USDT, and DAI stablecoins.
Cyvers Alerts advised users to revoke relevant authorizations immediately, noting that the attacker is actively converting USDC and USDT into ETH.
Crypto security firm Decurity provided insights into the exploit, stating that it involves the LI.FI bridge. “The root cause is a possibility of an arbitrary call with user-controlled data via depositToGasZipERC20() in GasZipFacet, which was deployed 5 days ago,” Decurity explained on X.
“In general, the risks behind routers, cross-chain swaps, etc. are about token approvals. Raw native assets like (unwrapped) ETH are safe from these kinds of hacks b/c they don’t have approvals as an option. Most users & wallets also no longer do “infinite approvals” which gives a smart contract total control on removing any amount of their tokens. It’s important to understand which tokens you’re approving to which contracts.
This dashboard looks for all transactions of a user that intersects Lifi. Not all of these transactions indicate risk- but you can see how, broadly, integrations & layers of tech (like how Metamask bridge uses Lifi on BSC) can complicate how users do or don’t put their assets at risk. Revoke Cash is the most well known approval manager app.
But it’s also good security practice to simply rotate your address. New addresses start with 0 approvals, so starting fresh by moving your tokens to a fresh address is another good security practice.” – commented Carlos Mercado, Data Scientist at Flipside Crypto.
Recent Exploit Mirrors March 2022 Attack
Further analysis by PeckShield alert revealed that the vulnerability is similar to a previous attack on LI.FI’s protocol that occurred on March 20, 2022. That incident saw a bad actor exploit LI.FI’s smart contract, specifically the swapping feature, before bridging.
The attacker manipulated the system to call token contracts directly within their contract’s context, making users who had given infinite approval vulnerable. This exploit resulted in the theft of approximately 205 ETH from 29 wallets, affecting tokens such as USDC, MATIC, RPL, GNO, USDT, MVI, AUDIO, AAVE, JRT, and DAI.
“The bug is basically the same. Are we learning anything from the past lesson(s)?” PeckShield Alert said in a July 16 X post.
Following the 2022 incident, LI.FI disabled all swap methods in its smart contract and worked on developing a fix to prevent future vulnerabilities. However, the recurrence of a similar exploit raises concerns about the platform’s security measures and whether adequate steps were taken to address the vulnerabilities identified in the previous breach.
LI.FI is a liquidity aggregation protocol that allows users to trade across various blockchains, venues, and bridges.
