You’re reading First Mover, our daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Sign up here to get it in your inbox each weekday morning. Today’s newsletter was edited by Shaurya Malwa and produced by Bradley Keoun.
Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here’s what’s happening this morning:
Market Moves: This week’s rally in crypto markets appeared to be cooling as skepticism grew over Russia’s pullback from Ukraine.
ALSO: Algorand’s ALGO token leads gains among the CoinDesk 20, and the metaverse-related tokens SAND and AXS jumped.
And check out the CoinDesk TV show “First Mover,” hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker, and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today’s show will feature guests:
Lennix Lai, director of financial markets, OKX
Alex Bornyakov, deputy minister, Ukraine Ministry of Digital Transformation
Jared Polis, governor of Colorado.
Market Moves
Bitcoin surged past $44,000 late Tuesday in its biggest gain in more than a week but on Wednesday appeared to be losing steam.
Crypto markets cooled as major cryptocurrencies hit resistance levels. Bitcoin faced resistance at the $44,300-$45,500 price levels, and low volume indicated weak buying strength.
Algorand’s ALGO token was the biggest gainer among the CoinDesk 20 digital assets, with a 6.4% rise. Filecoin’s FIL token climbed 5.2%.
Investors in traditional markets grew more cautious as Western officials expressed skepticism over a quick de-escalation of the Russia-Ukraine tensions.
Outside of major cryptocurrencies, metaverse tokens continued to surge on Wednesday. In the past 24 hours, Decentraland’s MANA was up 10.5%, The Sandbox’s SAND up 6% and Axie Infinity’s AXS up 11%. The tokens are used for blockchain-based games in separate virtual worlds broadly referred to as a “metaverse.”
Meanwhile, traders said the general outlook for cryptos remained bullish amid improving sentiment for asset classes globally.
“After a strong rebound following January’s 7.5% CPI print, cryptocurrencies have pulled back in line with traditional markets,” said Will Hamilton, head of trading at Trovio Capital Management, in an email to CoinDesk.
