First Mover: Gold Rallies as Bitcoin Languishes Around $56K
  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 7, 2021 Sponsored by  (Price data as of May 7 @11:00 UTC) If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.
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Biggest Movers These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:
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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 Omkar Godbole  Gold Rallies as Bitcoin Languishes Around $56K Bitcoin (BTC) was trading sideways on Friday, even as gold rallied to three-month highs amid a renewed drop in U.S. real (inflation-adjusted) bond yields.
The cryptocurrency was changing hands for $56,500 at 11:00 UTC, continuing a week-long consolidation in the range of $52,000 to $59,000, according to CoinDesk 20 data.
Gold, a traditional store-of-value asset, rose to $1,820 per ounce, the highest level since Feb. 16. The move came a day after the U.S. 10-year real yield fell to a three-month low of -0.88%, per data from the U.S. Department of Treasury.
"Lower real rates boost gold which now trades below fair value," ByteTree CIO Charlie Morris tweeted Thursday.
The collapse in real yields was in large part responsible for risk-taking across financial markets last year, as noted by MarketWatch. In addition, some institutions poured money into bitcoin amid fears over inflation. As such, some crypto market participants became more cautious in late February and early March 2021, after a brief spike in real yields to -0.57%.
However, the latest bout of weakness in the inflation-adjusted 10-year yield is struggling so far to push bitcoin higher.
Since mid-March, the yield has dropped by 30 basis points, marking a steady increase in inflation-adjusted loss for bond investors. Bitcoin registered a moderate decline of 1% during that time-frame, while gold has responded positively, rising from $1,700 to over $1,800.
According to Bank of America, inflows into gold funds amounted to $1.6 billion in the week ended May 5, the largest in three months.
In the crypto markets, investor focus has shifted from bitcoin to ether (ETH) and Ethereum-related projects like decentralized finance and layer-2 scaling. That could be the reason for bitcoin's lackluster performance of late. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, has chalked up more than 60% gains in just the past 12 days.
That said, a continued rally in gold may revive spirits in the bitcoin market, as the precious metal led the cryptocurrency higher last year.  Bitcoin and gold daily charts (Source: TradingView) Gold picked up a strong bid last June and surged to new record highs above $2,000 in August. Bitcoin followed suit in the final quarter, charting a near 90-degree rise to new record highs above $20,000.
History may well repeat itself this time, as bitcoin funds are again becoming popular. A report earlier this week from digital-asset manager CoinShares showed bitcoin funds and investment products drew $442 million last week, having leaked a record $21 million in the preceding week.
While the declining negative real yield is currently painting a bullish picture for bitcoin and gold, some analysts are of the opinion that good times may not last long.
"The bad news is global tapering has begun," analysts at Bank of America said, adding that the process could pick up the pace in the third quarter, according to ForexLive. Tapering refers to the gradual reversal of inflation-boosting stimulus policies implemented by central banks.
Should that happen, real yields may rise sharply, diluting the appeal of inflation hedges like bitcoin and gold.
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Technician's Take by Damanick Dantes Bitcoin Holds Support; Faces Resistance Around $58K-$60K Bitcoin (BTC) held support around $54,000 after buyers took profit around the $58,000 resistance level on Thursday. The cryptocurrency was trading around $56,500 at the time of writing.
While the short-term trend is improving, traders have been quick to take profit on rallies. Slowing momentum is typical of a consolidation phase, which suggests traders are taking a breather following a near two-fold price increase in BTC over the past year.  Four-hour bitcoin chart shows support and resistance levels with RSI (Source: TradingView)
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BOLO Be on the look out for these upcoming events:
 A message from CoinDesk Unlocked 101 at Consensus by CoinDesk 2021
The countdown is on to Consensus by CoinDesk, our virtual big-tent event this May.
For those who need a primer or to brush up on the fundamentals, we're hosting Unlocked 101, a free educational series designed to give you the tools you need to navigate crypto.
Sessions run May 4–20, covering the basics of Bitcoin, DeFi, scams and hacks and the NFT boom.
ICYMI In case you missed it, here's the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV: Ethereum Co-Founder on the Rise of Ether and DeFi; Gary Gensler to Testify Before Congress Best known as a co-founder of Ethereum, Anthony Di Iorio joins "First Mover" to share his views on Ether's surge and the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi). This, as the crypto community, awaits Gary Gensler's testimony before Congress, his first as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). CoinDesk's Nik De reports what Gensler may say. Plus, Philip Gradwell, Chief Economist at Chainalysis, joins our markets discussion, and Sean Sanders of Revix shares an update on the state of crypto in Africa.
 Introducing CoinDesk Indexes TradeBlock, the leader in providing crypto asset indexes to financial institutions, will now assume the CoinDesk name. Introducing CoinDesk Indexes: the industry standard for institutional-grade digital currency price references with billions of dollars in monthly trading volume quoted against them. Underlying new brand names, TradeBlock's index methodology will continue to adhere to the standards of integrity and reliability that have always differentiated its indexes. Read more about CoinDesk Indexes, the industry standard in crypto benchmarks.
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