Decentral Block Post

Ether’s (ETH) decentralized finance (DeFi) activity has declined in the bear market, and the sector faces further competition from Ethereum’s annual staking reward of 4%, according to Glassnode analysts. However, a DeFi narrative is building around liquid staking derivative (LSD) tokens, which could revive Ethereum’s network activity.

The percentage of gas consumed by DeFi protocols has dropped from 34% in 2020 to between 8% and 16% presently, with nonfungible tokens (NFTs) commanding the maximum share of 25–30%, according to a recent report from Glassnode.

Glassnode’s supply-weighted price index for DeFi, priced in United States dollars and ETH, recorded a 90% loss since early 2021.

The so-called DeFi “blue chips,” which represent a basket of governance tokens from well-known DeFi protocols like Uniswap (UNI), MakerDAO (MKR), Aave (AAVE), Compound (COMP), Balancer (BAL) and SushiSwap (SUSHI), have lost 88% of their market capitalization from all-time highs of $45 billion in May 2021.

DeFi blue chip tokens have underperformed against ETH during bullish market rallies and experienced a more severe drop than ETH “on the downside during the bear.” The analysts predict that since the staking of ETH now yields 4%, it will act as a “new hurdle rate over which token returns must jump.” This yield represents the benchmark rate for Ether investors.

On June 2, the price of Arbitrum jumped alongside the top-ranking cryptocurrencies after the United States Senate voted to raise the debt limit.

Why is the ARB price up today?

The price of Arbitrum (ARB) rose 9% to an intraday high of $1.25, beating the crypto market’s total overall gains of 1.5% in the same period.

Arbitrum’s outperformance coincided with some strange buying activity associated with popular trader Andrew Kang’s crypto addresses.

Notably, on June 2, the Mechanism Capital co-founder deposited $1 million worth of stablecoins into Arbitrum pools and spent over 20% of it buying RDNT, the native token of decentralized finance lending platform Radiant Capital.

Later, Kang exchanged his newly bought and existing RDNT reserves for $867,000 worth of ARB. Then, he deposited the proceeds to Radiant Capital to borrow Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), according to data resource Lookonchain.

Bitcoin “consolidation” could end by July, new research predicts as optimism over a BTC price breakout returns.

In its latest market update on June 2, trading firm QCP Capital revealed a bullish bias on both Bitcoin  (BTC) and the largest altcoin, Ether (ETH).

QCP Capital: Bitcoin consolidation “played out perfectly”

Bitcoin price has been ranging between $26,000 and $31,000 since mid-March, but analysts are increasingly calling time on the sideways action.

QCP Capital is among them, predicting a change of course as soon as the end of the month.

This, it argues, is thanks to the United States debt ceiling “sideshow” vanishing, leaving Bitcoin closely mimicking its consolidation and breakout phase from 2020.

Bitcoin (BTC) bounced near multiple support trend lines into June 2 as market indecision remained in force.

Traders bet on $27,500 BTC price ceiling

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting lows of $26,519 on Bitstamp after the daily close.

The pair showed little signs of a trend change as a stalemate between bulls and bears continued to produce little volatility.

The collection of moving averages (MAs) and the short-term holder (STH) realized price near $26,000, thus staying untested on intraday timeframes.

Analyzing the current setup, popular trader Crypto Ed considered the potential for upside topping out at $27,500.

As the summer season arrives, an unexpected heatwave is gripping financial markets.

This heat is coming in the form of the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which has been on a remarkable uptrend since late April, reaching levels unseen since early March’s banking crisis when the dollar wrecking ball wreaked havoc on asset prices.

This surge in the dollar has raised concerns among market participants due to its high inverse relationship with Bitcoin (BTC), a topic many macro and crypto analysts have discussed repeatedly in 2023.

The implication of this inverse correlation means that when the dollar rises, BTC falls and vice versa. The chart below showing the year-to-date performances of DXY (blue line) and BTC (orange line) underscores this relationship a step further.

Notice how Bitcoin’s 2023’s performance has been propelled by a downward dollar. Not coincidentally, the DXY reached its year-to-date low near 100.80 on April 13, nearly the exact date BTC reached its year-to-date high of just over $31,000. Since then, however, both have been trending in opposite directions.

Bitcoin (BTC) returned to a key focal point on June 1 as the monthly close delivered disappointment.

BTC price “fills” latest CME futures gap

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed a lackluster end to May for BTC/USD, which slid below $27,000.

The pair erased its entire uptick seen over the weekend, coming full circle to act in a familiar range on the day.

This centered on the area immediately below $27,000, Bitcoin frequently visiting since the middle of April.

In doing so this time around, however, BTC/USD “filled” a gap in CME futures outstanding since the weekend trip higher.

Pepe (PEPE) price has dropped by more than 70% three weeks after establishing its record high of $0.00000449. And the memecoin could fall even more in the coming days, according to a mix of technical and fundamental indicators.

PEPE charts flash a classic bearish reversal pattern

From a technical standpoint, the price of PEPE could drop sharply from its current levels. At the core of this bearish outlook lies the classic head-and-shoulders (H&S) pattern.

Analysts who use technical analysi view the H&S pattern as a bearish reversal indicator for the unversed. It forms when the price forms three peaks atop a common neckline support; the middle peak, called "head," is higher than the other two, called the "left shoulder" and "right shoulder."

The H&S pattern resolves after the price breaks below its neckline. Meanwhile, as a rule of technical analysis, traders measure the pattern's downside target by adding the maximum distance between the head and neckline to the breakdown point.

On May 22, PEPE broke below its H&S neckline near $0.00000156. That puts its downside target near $0.00000041 in June, down around 70% from current price levels.

The cryptocurrency market experienced a dull month, with Bitcoin (BTC) dropping 7.37% — its worst performance since November 2022 — and Ether (ETH) losing 0.22% in May. 

The average loss across the market stands at 5.62% on the last day before the monthly close.

However, some outliers posted impressive gains thanks to popular investment narratives and the growth of the Ethereum staking sector.

In the first half of May, memecoins grabbed headlines, with Pepecoin (PEPE) leading the narrative. The memecoin cycle guzzled up a lot of gas on Ethereum in the first half of May.

PEPE’s market capitalization surged to a peak of $1.54 billion in the first week of May, according to CoinGecko. It has witnessed a sell-off since then, as tokenholders booked profit. However, the token still ended the month with over 300% gains.

Bitcoin (BTC) is in a “transition,” which should pave the way to the next bull market top, new research has concluded.

In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, “The Week On-Chain,” analytics firm Glassnode unveiled its latest tool for tracking Bitcoin’s resurgence.

Bitcoin hodlers in “transition”

After the 2022 bear market and signs of recovery in Q1 this year, on-chain metrics have undergone a broad transformation, many suggesting that a long-term BTC price bottom is already in.

With price action stagnating since mid-March, however, doubts have returned — along with downside targets that stretch toward $20,000.

For Glassnode analysts, however, Bitcoin’s long-term investor base is already preparing for better times ahead.

Bitcoin (BTC) tested $27,000 on May 31 as weakness prevailed into the monthly close.

Analyst: Bitcoin reaching “crucial area”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it continued to lose momentum after local highs near $28,500.

As early-week excitement faded, traders and analysts warned that now was a make-or-break point for the short-term trend.

“Crucial area approaching here for Bitcoin and dipped into it,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, summarized.

“If this zone sustains as support & Bitcoin will be able to reclaim $27,500, everything looks like we’ll continue the upwards trend. Drop beneath $26,600 and we’ll see new lows.”

Bitcoin’s volatility has dropped to historically low levels thanks to macroeconomic uncertainty and low market liquidity. However, on-chain and options market data allude to incoming volatility in June.

The Bitcoin Volatility Index, which measures the daily fluctuations in Bitcoin’s (BTC) price, shows that the 30-day volatility in Bitcoin’s price was 1.52%, which is less than half of the yearly averages across Bitcoin’s history, with values usually above 4%.

According to Glassnode, the expectation of volatility is a “logical conclusion” based on the fact that low volatility levels were only seen for 19.3% of Bitcoin’s price history.

The latest weekly update from the on-chain analytics firm shows that Glassnode’s monthly realized volatility metric for Bitcoin slipped below the lower bounds of the historical Bollinger Band, suggesting an incoming uptick in volatility.

Long-term Bitcoin holders metric points to a price breakout

The on-chain transfer volumes of Bitcoin across cryptocurrency exchanges dropped to historically low levels. The price is also trading near short-term holder bias, indicating a “balanced position of profit and loss for new investors” that bought coins during and after the 2021-2022 bull cycle, according to the report. Currently, 50% of new investors are in profit, with the rest in loss.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell into the May 30 Wall Street open as the return of United States equities failed to boost performance.

Bitcoin pauses into the monthly close

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD heading to $27,700, having briefly spiked above the $28,000 mark.

The pair encountered resistance below its local highs from around the weekly close, and stocks also treaded water after the opening bell.

The excitement around a possible deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, which had boosted crypto previously, also cooled as market participants waited for its first test in Congress.

“Bitcoin has been having a hard time reclaiming the weekend high,” monitoring resource Material Indicators summarized in part of an analysis on the day.