LMAX Digital volumes have been thin this week. On top of the discouraging fundamentals right now, we believe the World Cup, Japan holiday closure and US Thanksgiving week are also factoring into the lighter activity.

Total notional volume for Tuesday came in at $277 million, 42% below 30-day average volume.

Bitcoin volume printed $146 million on Tuesday, 46% below 30-day average volume. Ether volume came in at $64 million, 59% below 30-day average volume.

Looking at average position size over the past 30 days, we’re seeing average bitcoin position size at $5,691 and average position size for ether at 2,796.

Volatility has picked up in recent sessions, with the market surging out from yearly and multi-month low levels. We’re looking at average daily ranges in bitcoin and ether of $795 and $86 respectively.

There haven’t been a lot of bright spots in the crypto space in 2022, though one silver lining definitely worthy of attention is the ongoing institutional adoption. A recent survey of institutional investors points to increased allocation of crypto over the past year, despite the downturn.

This of course is highly encouraging and something that should inspire confidence as we navigate through this period of rougher waters. We’re still waiting to see what additional fallout there is from the FTX implosion, and how things play out with Digital Currency Group (DCG) will definitely factor into short-term price action.

Another bright spot in the current darkness is the fact that all of this turmoil should accelerate necessary regulation and oversight in the space, something that will offer more clarity and more confidence in the asset class from traditional players keen to get involved.

Technically speaking, we’ve seen a nice little recovery over the past couple of sessions. At the same time, the trend still leans bearish and we need to see a break in bitcoin back above $17,170 at a minimum to take the immediate pressure off the downside.

Fundamentally, a lot of this latest bounce could also be getting help from a round of more dovish leaning Fed speak, which has inspired demand for risk correlated assets.