First Mover: Bitcoin, Ether Stabilize After Record Volume Day
  Everything you need to make sense of the crypto markets and beyond By the CoinDesk Markets Team Edited by Lawrence Lewitinn, Managing Editor, Global Capital Markets May 20, 2021 Sponsored by  (Price data as of May 20 @11:00 UTC) If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.
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Check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Lawrence Lewitinn and Emily Parker, at 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today the show will feature guests:
Biggest Movers These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:
Gainers: Losers:
The CoinDesk 20 are 20 digital assets filtered from the larger universe of thousands of cryptocurrencies and constitute roughly 99% of the market by volume at eight of the largest and most trustworthy exchanges.
Market Moves by Lawrence Lewitinn  Bitcoin, Ether Stabilize After Record Volume Day Bitcoin (BTC) owners were licking their wounds Thursday morning after record trading volume brought the world's oldest cryptocurrency perilously close to piercing support at $30,000. Prices stayed in the $30,000s for much of the past 24 hours, dipping below $36,000 at around 01:00 UTC Thursday (9:00 p.m. ET Wednesday). They subsequently drifted higher, breaking above $40,000 briefly this morning at around 07:00 UTC (3:00 a.m. ET).  Bitcoin prices, May 19 - May 20, 2021 (Source: CoinDesk) Wednesday's spot market volume was one for the record books, according to CoinMarketCap. Some $131.1 billion in bitcoin changed hands, nearly $5 billion more than Tuesday's figure and nearly double the dollar volume of March 12, 2020, the so-called "Black Thursday" of crypto. However, it should be noted that bitcoin was trading at one-fifth its current price. Thus, when measured on a bitcoin volume basis, March 2020's selloff was far worse.
Bitcoin's market dominance, a measure of its market cap relative to the total for all other cryptocurrencies, briefly fell below 40% for the first time since June 2018.  Ether prices, May 19 - May 20, 2021 (Source: CoinDesk) Ether's (ETH) fate was no better; it broke below $2,000 Wednesday and bounced in a range between $2,600 and $2,800 for much of Thursday morning during Asia's trading hours. It, too, saw record volume in trading, with close to $93.5 billion in ether finding new owners Wednesday.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) market is also feeling the heat. The total amount of assets locked in DeFi is just below $65 billion, down from an all-time high of $88 billion on May 11, according to data site DeFiPulse.com.
Other cryptocurrencies weren't spared the sell-off, of course. Only three of the free-floating cryptocurrencies in the CoinDesk 20 were up over the past 24 hours, with bitcoin being the biggest gain at just 2.2%. Most were down double-digit percentage points, with polkadot (DOT) suffering the most, losing about a quarter of its value in a day.
Despite the rough day, it should be noted that cryptocurrencies are still easily trouncing any other asset class this year. Bitcoin is up around 34% year-to-date while ether has gained over 260% so far in 2021. When the year started, the combined value of all cryptocurrencies was $776 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. As of today, it is $1.7 trillion, an increase of 123.8%. An asset that has more than doubled in value and has kept ahead of inflation as well as other investments is generally considered a success.
Read Market Wrap here: Market Wrap: Capitulation City as Bitcoin Dumps to $31K, ETH to $2K Before Reversal
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Technician's Take by Damanick Dantes Bitcoin Remains Under Pressure; Faces Resistance At $45K After yesterday's 14% plunge, bitcoin (BTC) clawed back to around $40,000 during Asian hours but remained under pressure.
Sharp price swings have become the norm this week as the broader uptrend weakens similar to 2018, which was the start of a bear market.  Four-hour bitcoin chart shows support and resistance with oversold RSI (Source: TradingView)
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BOLO Be on the look out for these upcoming events:
 A message from CoinDesk Will bitcoin pump? Is a pullback around the corner? Is ether a better way to position? Next week at Consensus by CoinDesk, our virtual big-tent conference, we help investors hone their skill sets with trading and yield generation strategies. investment theses and market intelligence and get up to speed on crypto market developments. Join our Explorations track "Trade Secrets" with Philip Gradwell of Chainalysis, Matthew Roszak of Bloq, Darius Sit of QCP Capital and more at Consensus by CoinDesk, May 24-27. Register today.
ICYMI In case you missed it, here's the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:
Eyes on Fed Report as Cryptocurrencies Continue Slide; Beeple on NFT Art Market Impact Big bitcoin, ether selloff continues while investors anticipate the latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes. "First Mover" discusses BTC price correction, inflation fear and more with former New York Fed Director Benson Durham and CoinZoom CEO Todd Crosland. Plus, Mike Winkelmann, better known as "Beeple," joins to discuss the NFT art market and a new platform he supports.
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