First Mover Asia: Bitcoin and Ether Prices Trapped in a 'Wind Tunnel'

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Bitcoin remained steady at approximately $27,300.

Insights: Funding rates on bitcoin and ether perpetual futures continue to display a positive sentiment, serving as a reliable indicator.

Prices

Bitcoin (BTC) $27,170 +253.1 ▲ 0.9%	Ethereum (ETH) $1,817 +17.0 ▲ 0.9%	CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,169 +12.5 ▲ 1.1%
S&P 500 4,136.28 +12.2 ▲ 0.3%	Gold $2,020 +5.7 ▲ 0.3%	Nikkei 225 29,626.34 +238.0 ▲ 0.8%

BTC/ETH prices per CoincryptoUs as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)

Quiet market translates to less bullish energy

The cryptocurrency markets experienced a period of calmness as both bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) traded below their 20-day moving average.

Both bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) were trading below their 20-day moving averages in a tranquil crypto market.

As stated by Glenn Williams Jr., a markets analyst at CoinDesk, monitoring trading volumes will be crucial as they have the potential to magnify or dampen the sentiment driving a specific market direction.

Jeff Dorman, the chief investment officer at digital-asset manager Arca, highlights that bid/ask spreads, which indicate the disparity between the buying price and the selling price, have widened significantly, particularly due to the departure of several market makers from the cryptocurrency space.

"The prices of most digital assets are stuck in a wind tunnel," Dorman in a newsletter.

Biggest Gainers

Asset	Ticker	Returns	DACS Sector
Raydium	RAY	+4.41%	DeFi
ARPA	ARPA	+3.25%	Computing
OMG Network	OMG	+1.76%	Smart Contract Platform

Biggest Losers

Asset	Ticker	Returns	DACS Sector
Lido DAO	LDO	-10.04%	DeFi
The Graph	GRT	-9.05%	Computing
Liquity	LQTY	-8.23%	DeFi

Insights

Funding rates remain positive in crypto markets

The perpetual futures funding rates for both bitcoin and ether continue to remain in the positive territory, indicating that market sentiment remains optimistic at the present moment.

Funding rates on bitcoin perpetual futures.

Perpetual funding rates reflect the payments made within futures markets between participants who hold either long or short positions on the asset. Positive funding rates indicate that long position holders pay fees to short position holders, while negative funding rates imply the opposite scenario.

Funding rates can serve as an indication of either bullish or bearish sentiment. Positive rates typically reflect a bullish sentiment, while negative rates generally indicate a bearish sentiment.

In the past 10 trading days, Bitcoin has experienced positive funding rates for 8 days. On the other hand, Ether has had positive funding rates for 7 days, with 3 instances of rates declining to zero. However, since April 6, Ether's funding rates have not fallen below zero.