MARKETS week ahead: December 30 – January 5
Last week in the news
The Holiday season on the Western markets made its impact on lower trading volumes and lower volatility for US Dollar, the price of gold and the crypto market. As for US equities, the previous week was influenced by shifts in US Treasury yields. The 10Y US benchmark yields reached the level of 4,629% after considering Feds narrative over the future course of rate cuts in 2025. The price of gold ended the week relatively steady at the level of $2.621, while BTC had a modestly volatile week, but still testing the 95K to the downside. The week ahead brings another short Holiday, celebrating the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, when a relatively calm week should be expected.
Without any significant news from the Western markets, the Japan monetary authorities were in the spotlight during the previous week. Namely, the Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato noted that the rate increase is still on the table for the BoJ meeting in January. The excessive movements in Yen during the previous period is not welcomed by Japanese monetary authorities, in which sense, an increase in interest rates would support its stabilization. However, the Ministry must take a cautious approach, considering a trajectory from the US economy. A potential hike would make borrowing in Yen more expensive, in which sense, some carry trading positions would have to be closed, which would at the bottom line have a negative impact on the US markets.
Based on analysts' opinion, the big seven companies in the tech industry are going to be in the focus of market interest also in the future. Increasing demand for the AI ecosystem will further support businesses within the tech industry. The so-called “Magnificent seven” stocks are ending this year almost 180% higher, with market capitalization exceeding $3 trillion. During the year, Nvidia became the second most valued company in the US.
Central bank moves in terms of further cut of interest rates is going to be in the market focus also during the year 2025. High inflation was put into control, based on which, both Fed and ECB made their cuts of reference interest rates during 2024. The trend is expected to continue also during 2025, however, at a lower pace. Fed Chair Powell noted at December's FOMC meeting expectations of further 50 bps cut of rates during 2025. On the other side is the European Central Bank, holding onto actual macro data in order to make a further decision on rate cuts. As inflation in the Euro Zone slowed down, a lower rate cut is also expected during 2025.
Crypto market cap
Although December was a tight month for the crypto currencies market, still, it should be considered that crypto coins had one extremely good year, with a few milestones reached. The year 2024 will be marked as the year when the first BTC spot exchange traded fund has been officially approved and started trading on traditional markets. The second important milestone for BTC was its 100K target. BTC is also ending this year with the all-time highest level reached during the year at $107,8K. Turning to the previous week, total crypto market capitalization was decreased by additional 1%, decreasing the cap by 30B. With the start of the Holiday season on Western markets, total daily trading volumes were significantly decreased to the level of 131B on a daily basis, from 397B traded the week before. Total crypto market capitalization increase from the end of the previous year currently stands at $1.592, which represents a 97% surge from the beginning of this year.
BTC closed the previous week at 3% lower from the week before, losing 58B in the market cap. This week ETH was flat, while the rest of altcoins were traded in a relatively mixed manner, as there were both gainers and losers. DASH gained almost 14% in value, while Theta and ZCash increased their market cap by more than 10%, each. This week the value of XRP dropped by 3,3%, LINK was last traded down by 4,7%, while the value of Maker decreased by 6,9%.
As it comes to coins in circulation, few altcoins had a higher increase, including IOTA, with a surge in circulating coins of 0,5%, while XRP increased the number of its circulating coins by 0,3% on a weekly basis. For the second week in a row the number of Tether coins on the market decreased, this week by 0,6%. A drop in the number of coins also had Polygon of 2,2% on a weekly basis.
Crypto futures market
During the previous week both BTC and ETH futures were traded lower compared to the week before. BTC futures were down by more than 2% for all maturities. Futures maturing in December 2025 reached the last price at $103.410, while December 2026 closed the week at the level of $111.930. On a positive side is that investors still perceive positive development for the value of BTC in the future period.
ETH futures were traded lower around 4% for all maturities. Futures maturing in December 2025 closed the week at the level of $3.601, while those maturing a year later were last traded at $3.837. The ETH is still struggling to sustain the $ 4K level on a long run.
The Holiday season on the Western markets made its impact on lower trading volumes and lower volatility for US Dollar, the price of gold and the crypto market. As for US equities, the previous week was influenced by shifts in US Treasury yields. The 10Y US benchmark yields reached the level of 4,629% after considering Feds narrative over the future course of rate cuts in 2025. The price of gold ended the week relatively steady at the level of $2.621, while BTC had a modestly volatile week, but still testing the 95K to the downside. The week ahead brings another short Holiday, celebrating the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, when a relatively calm week should be expected.
Without any significant news from the Western markets, the Japan monetary authorities were in the spotlight during the previous week. Namely, the Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato noted that the rate increase is still on the table for the BoJ meeting in January. The excessive movements in Yen during the previous period is not welcomed by Japanese monetary authorities, in which sense, an increase in interest rates would support its stabilization. However, the Ministry must take a cautious approach, considering a trajectory from the US economy. A potential hike would make borrowing in Yen more expensive, in which sense, some carry trading positions would have to be closed, which would at the bottom line have a negative impact on the US markets.
Based on analysts' opinion, the big seven companies in the tech industry are going to be in the focus of market interest also in the future. Increasing demand for the AI ecosystem will further support businesses within the tech industry. The so-called “Magnificent seven” stocks are ending this year almost 180% higher, with market capitalization exceeding $3 trillion. During the year, Nvidia became the second most valued company in the US.
Central bank moves in terms of further cut of interest rates is going to be in the market focus also during the year 2025. High inflation was put into control, based on which, both Fed and ECB made their cuts of reference interest rates during 2024. The trend is expected to continue also during 2025, however, at a lower pace. Fed Chair Powell noted at December's FOMC meeting expectations of further 50 bps cut of rates during 2025. On the other side is the European Central Bank, holding onto actual macro data in order to make a further decision on rate cuts. As inflation in the Euro Zone slowed down, a lower rate cut is also expected during 2025.
Crypto market cap
Although December was a tight month for the crypto currencies market, still, it should be considered that crypto coins had one extremely good year, with a few milestones reached. The year 2024 will be marked as the year when the first BTC spot exchange traded fund has been officially approved and started trading on traditional markets. The second important milestone for BTC was its 100K target. BTC is also ending this year with the all-time highest level reached during the year at $107,8K. Turning to the previous week, total crypto market capitalization was decreased by additional 1%, decreasing the cap by 30B. With the start of the Holiday season on Western markets, total daily trading volumes were significantly decreased to the level of 131B on a daily basis, from 397B traded the week before. Total crypto market capitalization increase from the end of the previous year currently stands at $1.592, which represents a 97% surge from the beginning of this year.
BTC closed the previous week at 3% lower from the week before, losing 58B in the market cap. This week ETH was flat, while the rest of altcoins were traded in a relatively mixed manner, as there were both gainers and losers. DASH gained almost 14% in value, while Theta and ZCash increased their market cap by more than 10%, each. This week the value of XRP dropped by 3,3%, LINK was last traded down by 4,7%, while the value of Maker decreased by 6,9%.
As it comes to coins in circulation, few altcoins had a higher increase, including IOTA, with a surge in circulating coins of 0,5%, while XRP increased the number of its circulating coins by 0,3% on a weekly basis. For the second week in a row the number of Tether coins on the market decreased, this week by 0,6%. A drop in the number of coins also had Polygon of 2,2% on a weekly basis.
Crypto futures market
During the previous week both BTC and ETH futures were traded lower compared to the week before. BTC futures were down by more than 2% for all maturities. Futures maturing in December 2025 reached the last price at $103.410, while December 2026 closed the week at the level of $111.930. On a positive side is that investors still perceive positive development for the value of BTC in the future period.
ETH futures were traded lower around 4% for all maturities. Futures maturing in December 2025 closed the week at the level of $3.601, while those maturing a year later were last traded at $3.837. The ETH is still struggling to sustain the $ 4K level on a long run.
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