LMAX Digital volumes picked up on Monday after a decent weekend of trade. Total notional volume for Monday came in at $1.94 billion, up 32% from 30-day average volume. Bitcoin volume came in at $1.1 billion, up 46% from 30-day average volume, and Ether volume came in at $534 million, up 22% from 30-day average volume. 

Total notional volume at LMAX Digital over the past 30 days comes in at $44 billion. Average trading size for Bitcoin came in at $9,557 on Monday. Average trading size for Ether came in at $4,388 on Monday. The average daily trading range for BTCUSD is $3,121. The average daily trading range for ETHUSD is $259.

News of more Chinese mine closures and additional regulatory scrutiny have been sourced as drivers behind this latest weakness in crypto markets. While longer-term, the movement out of China should be seen as a positive for decentralization, in the short-term, the drop in the hash rate is causing a disruption for the market. 

Of course, there are other factors at play when looking at this latest wave of downside pressure. These include technical reasons, with the market in a bearish consolidation and failing to break out to the topside in the latest attempt. Structural concerns are at play as well, with many talking about vulnerabilities in stable coins. Meanwhile, others cite a general slowdown in retail demand for the weakness we’re seeing. 

But we would also attribute weakness in the crypto space to fallout from the Fed decision in the previous week. When considering the short-term dynamics in markets, there is still a view that Bitcoin is a maturing, emerging asset, which therefore shares correlations with risk correlated assets. As investor sentiment wanes in the aftermath of the more hawkish Fed outlook, so does sentiment towards crypto assets. 

Of course, we see Bitcoin being very well supported into dips, with setbacks expected to find plenty of demand down towards $20,000 as medium and longer-term players are happy to scoop up the asset on the longer term value proposition.