MARKETS week ahead: November 25 – December 1Last week in the news
The crypto and gold markets were in the spotlight of the markets during the previous week, considering that there has not been much significant US macro data posted. Investors' positive sentiment for BTC continues to hold, where BTC reached levels quite close to the $100K mark. Despite US strengthening, the price of gold returned to the levels above the $2,7K considering ongoing geopolitical risks. The US Treasury yields are waging current macro data, searching for a clue whether the Fed will skip rate cut in December. The 10Y benchmark yields modestly eased till the level of 4,4%. The US equities were also traded with a positive sentiment, but the investor attention is currently switched from tech giants toward the industrials and consumer sectors. The S&P 500 ended the week at the level of 5.969.
The news that spotted the most market attention during the previous week is that SEC Chair Gensler will step down from his current position on January 20th. In an official statement by the SEC, Gensler noted that during his mandate “the SEC has met our mission and enforced the law without fear or favor”. The crypto market reacted positively to this announcement. On the other hand, news from Saturday is that a new US President elected Donald Trump nominated Scott Bessent as a new Treasury Secretary in his administration. As a reasoning, Trump commented on Bassent as “one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists”.
The latest BTC rally toward the $100K certainly spotted market attention. However, there is an emerging number of analysts who are pointing toward the risks of investments in the crypto market, as they are pointing out that some investors might be confused by treating BTC in the same manner as gold. State Street Global Advisors are the latest to point to this distinction, pointing out that BTC does not offer stability as gold, calling the crypto narrative “manipulative”.
Tesla shares continue to gain, as well as the wealth of Elon Musk. Reuters reported that the US judge rejected the request from the US SEC to sanction Elon Musk for not appearing at the court-order testimony related to regulators probe over his takeover of Twitter.
A so-called Black Friday, a holiday shopping season is nearing, so investors used the previous week to open positions with companies in the retail sector. As the consumer sector showed signs of strength, the retailers revised their earnings forecasts for the end of this year. Analysts are certain that this year Black Friday might provide the real picture of actual strength of consumer spending in the US.
Crypto market cap
An interest in the crypto continues to hold investors on the market. A new record was reached during the previous week, where the total crypto market passed the value of $3 trillion for the first time in the history of this market. Actual value of the market as of the weekend stands at $3.28 trillion which represents an increase of 10% on a weekly basis, where there has been added a fresh new $285B to its value. Daily trading volumes also reached new historically highest values with a turnover of around $412B on a daily basis, which is a surge from $351B traded a week before. Total crypto market capitalization increase from the end of the previous year currently stands at $1.642B, which represents a 100% surge from the beginning of this year.
During the previous week all coins gained in value, with some significant fund inflows in both major coins but also in other altcoins. BTC led the market with a surge in value of 7.7% on a weekly basis, adding a new $138B to its market cap. ETH followed the path, with an increase of 8.6% w/w in value or $32.8B. XRP continues to gain market attention since last week, with an increase from this week of 28% or $18.6B. ADA is among significant gainers, with a weekly gain in value of 39.8% or $10.6B. Market favourite Solana surged by 19.4% or $19.8B. During the previous week the absolute weekly winner was XRP, however, this week Stellar surged by an incredible 142.8% on a weekly basis, which was the highest weekly gain for this coin ever. Incredible weekly returns go on, where coins gained somewhere from 8% up to 20% or 30%.
There has also been increased activity when circulating coins are in question. First, Tether should be mentioned, as this stablecoin added 3.7% of new coins on the market, increasing by this number its total market cap. This week Solana added 0.6% of new coins to the market, while Filecoin and Maker number of coins surged by 0.4%.
Crypto futures market
Increased optimism from the spot market was evident also on the crypto futures market. Both BTC and ETH futures continued to gain for all maturities. Some new ATHs are evident with BTC long term futures.
BTC futures were traded by 8.5% on average higher. December 2024 ended the week at the level of $100.815, which is the first time that this maturity passed the level of $100K. At the same time futures maturing in December 2025 also reached their historically highest levels at $109.570. This is quite a positive sign for BTC over market expectations in the future period.
This week ETH futures also gained considerably, around 7% on average for all maturities. December 2024 ended the week at the level of $3.364, while futures maturing in December 2025 closed the week at $3.585. On a positive side for ETH is that all maturities managed to pass the $3K psychological level.
