News recap: bitcoin ends September in the green again

Crypto market in numbers

Between 22nd September and 5th October, the cryptocurrency market capitalisation increased by 3.3% to reach $1.08 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap. Up until 28th September, it remained within a narrow range around $1.05 trillion. However, starting from the 29th, the market managed to grow to $1.1 trillion. Later, it slightly corrected to the range of $1.08 – $1.09 trillion.

Trading activity continues to remain low. Between 22nd and 28th September, the average daily volumes were mostly between $15 billion and $25 billion. On 29th September, the volume sharply increased by 87.5% to $45 billion, but from 3rd October onwards, daily volumes returned to around $25 billion. Current trading volumes are at their lowest in recent years.

The cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index has stabilised in the “Neutral” zone. Since 22nd September, the index has not dropped below 43 points. It reached a local high of 50 points on 3rd October, and then dropped back to 48 points. Such values were last observed in mid-August 2023.

Cryptocurrency volatility is still at a multi-year low. Between 22nd September and 5th October, the 30-day volatility index for BTC decreased by 14.8% – from 1.21% to 1.03%. A similar metric for ETH increased by 3.6% – from 1.10% to 1.14%.

One of the historically worst months for the cryptocurrency market has ended. Despite the discouraging statistics, bitcoin saw a growth of 3.99% in September. In September, the third quarter also concluded. For bitcoin, it resulted in a decline of 11%, whereas the ETH price decreased by 13% – not the best outcome for the leading cryptocurrencies. Historically, the cryptocurrency market has seen an 80% growth rate in October, so positive changes can be expected.

At the end of September, the SEC postponed the consideration of spot Bitcoin ETFs to the first quarter of 2024. Surprisingly, bitcoin’s price hardly reacted to this news. It’s worth noting the interesting timing: in the first half of 2024, the SEC is expected to make a decision regarding spot Bitcoin ETFs and the first Federal Reserve interest rate cut is planned, Bitcoin halving is scheduled for April 2024 and at the end of the year, presidential elections in the USA are scheduled, so candidates increasingly mention cryptocurrencies positively in their pre-election speeches.

Gainers (21st September – 03rd October)

Losers (21st September – 03rd October)

Easily track gainers and losers within the Simple trade section on EXMO.com. Check real-time updates in the last 24 hours, week and month.

Most traded coins (21st September – 03rd October)

Top crypto market driving factors

Overall сrypto market

▲ 26.09.2023 – Microsoft unintentionally revealed plans to integrate a cryptocurrency wallet into the popular gaming console, Xbox.

▲ 26.09.2023 – Bernstein noted that the transformation of the crypto market into a regulated industry will occur within the next 5 years. Assets managed by investment funds are expected to reach $500-650 billion by then.

▼ 27.09.2023 – SEC postponed decisions on spot bitcoin ETF applications from ARK Invest and 21Shares until the 10th January 2024.

▼ 27.09.2023 – According to research undertaken by the Federal Reserve and banks in Boston and New York, stablecoins could introduce instability into the financial system.

▼ 27.09.2023 – JPMorgan highlighted that stablecoin issuers risk undermining the market for short-term financing after access was restricted by the Federal Reserve.

▼ 29.09.2023 – SEC delayed decisions on spot Bitcoin ETF applications from BlackRock, Invesco, Bitwise, and Valkyrie.

▲ 29.09.2023 – PayPal filed four patent applications related to solutions involving NFTs, Layer 2, and metaverses.

▲ 29.09.2023 – USDT balances on crypto exchanges are increasing, historically a bullish sign as this fuels future purchases.

▲ 03.10.2023 – The amount of USDT on exchanges increased from 17.6% to 24.7%, nearly the highest level in the last 6 months.

▼ 03.10.2023 – 30,753 traders were liquidated in 24 hours, with total liquidations amounting to $108.33 million.

▼ 04.10.2023 – BIS is developing a system for global central banks to track on-chain and off-chain cryptocurrency flows between exchanges worldwide.

▼ 04.10.2023 – Trading volumes on major centralised exchanges continued to decline in the third quarter, reaching the lowest level since mid-2020.

Bitcoin (BTC)

▲ 25.09.2023 – MicroStrategy acquired an additional 5,445 bitcoins, with their total amounting to $147.3 million. The average price per bitcoin is $27,053.

▼ 25.09.2023 – Santiment noted reduced interest in bitcoin due to its stagnant price in a narrow range.

▼ 27.09.2023 – Miner, Marathon Digital, mined an invalid block at height #809,478 in the Bitcoin main network due to transaction order issues.

▲ 27.09.2023 – Four American lawmakers demanded the SEC to promptly approve spot bitcoin ETF applications.

▲ 27.09.2023 – The total number of transactions in the Bitcoin network exceeded 900 million.

▲ 27.09.2023 – In September, Bitcoin users conducted over 13 million transactions.

▼ 27.09.2023 – Wallets holding 1,000 BTC or more sold more than 20,000 bitcoins in the past week.

▼ 28.09.2023 – Selling pressure on bitcoin from miners is increasing. They are selling up to 315% of mined coins on exchanges.

▲ 29.09.2023 – Whales returned to accumulating BTC; balances with 10-10,000 BTC reached a 2023 high.

▲ 01.10.2023 – Bitcoin closed September in positive territory for the third time in history, with a growth of +3.99%.

▲ 03.10.2023 – Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by 0.35%. The indicator reached a maximum at 57.32 T.

▼ 03.10.2023 – Worldwide Google searches for Bitcoin hit a one-year low.

▲ 04.10.2023 – The number of bitcoins held by long-term holders or lost forever reached a 5-year high at 7,904,456.21 bitcoins.

Ethereum (ETH)

▼ 22.09.2023 – The Shanghai upgrade of the Ethereum network, activated in April, did not lead to the expected increase in blockchain activity, as reported by JPMorgan.

▼ 25.09.2023 – Vitalik Buterin sent 2,421 ETH to exchanges using two addresses in the last 10 days.

▲ 26.09.2023 – The balance of ether on central exchanges decreased since 2022, reaching a record low in September 2023 (8.9 million ETH as of the 26th of September).

▼ 28.09.2023 – The SEC announced the postponement of decisions on requests from 21Shares and VanEck companies to launch a spot ETF based on ethereum.

▲ 28.09.2023 – Ethereum developers relaunched the Holesky testnet after an unsuccessful attempt on the anniversary of The Merge upgrade.

▲ 28.09.2023 – VanEck announced the launch of Ethereum Strategy ETF.

▲ 01.10.2023 – Invesco and Galaxy Digital jointly applied to the SEC to launch an ETF based on ethereum.

▼ 03.10.2023 – Ethereum-ETF trading volume did not exceed $2 million in the first 15 minutes of the session, in contrast to a similar bitcoin-based instrument’s debut, where the volume was a hundred times higher.

Ripple (XRP)

▼ 29.09.2023 – Ripple abandoned the acquisition of the cryptocurrency-focused trust company, Fortress Trust, as announced by CEO, Brad Garlinghouse.

▲ 04.10.2023 – District Judge Analisa Torres denied SEC’s interim appeal in the case against Ripple.

▲ 04.10.2023 – Ripple obtained a licence in Singapore.

▲ 04.10.2023 – XRP is once again trending due to another victory in court.

Solana (SOL)

▲ 02.10.2023 – Total Value Locked (TVL) in the Solana blockchain exceeded $339 million, the highest since November 2022.

▲ 04.10.2023 – According to CoinShares’ report, Solana became the most popular altcoin among investors last week.

Toncoin (TON)

▲ 22.09.2023 – Cross-chain bridge XP. NETWORK NFT supported the TON blockchain.

▲ 25.09.2023 – Partnership announced with Chainbase and Tencent Cloud to support Web3 mini-app developers on TON.

Polkadot (DOT)

▲ 22.09.2023 – The Polkadot team will increase the parachain limit in the ecosystem from 100 to 1,000 following the “asynchronous backing” update.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

▲ 03.10.2023 – According to Shibariumscan, the Shibarium blockchain has processed 933,156 blocks, with increasing transaction numbers and wallets.

Sui (SUI)

▲ 28.09.2023 – Sui Network announced the launch of Play Beyond, a gaming portal on Sui.

EXMO.com news

New wallet addresses for crypto deposits: to continue topping up your balance with BTC, ETH, ETC and other cryptos, you need to generate new wallet addresses by 16th October 2023.

EXM quarterly burn completed: on 5th October 2023, we burned 387,701 EXM received from EXMO Premium package sales.

LYO Credit (LYO) to be delisted: token’s deposits and trades were terminated on 3rd October 2023, while withdrawals will only be available until 4th November 2023.