CCData's weekly ‘Chart of the Week’ highlights topical digital asset developments with vital commentary and analysis.
This week's COTW examines the relationship between centralised (CEX) and decentralised exchange (DEX) volumes since 2021.
So far in November, CEX market share stands at 90.3%, slightly above the yearly average of 89.6%.
Interestingly, DEX volumes have soared to a record $292.54bn, reflecting a surge in on-chain activity.
Yet, despite this growth, CEXs remain firmly dominant as speculative activity picks up, driven by BTC’s approach to the $100k milestone.
While CEX market share has declined from 97.7% in January 2021 to its current level, the shift has been gradual, with dominance fluctuating between 88–91% in recent years.
This highlights the enduring strength of centralised platforms, even as decentralised alternatives gain traction.
This week’s Chart of the Week highlights May’s correlation of daily returns between BTC, ETH and the SP500, falling to 15.8% and 18.2%, respectively, the lowest level since August 2022.
Digital assets have benefitted from a significant price appreciation following signs that tight monetary policy and high interest rates may soon reach their peak. This comes after the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, causing a stir in the banking system, and amplifying the interest in digital assets.
The depegging of USDC and regulatory issues with BUSD has led to Binance converting $1 billion of their Industry Recovery Initiative funds to BTC, ETH, and BNB, triggering further buy pressure for digital assets.
This week’s Chart of the Week explores the top ten assets* ranked by their relative change in open interest since the confirmation of the US Presidential Election results, which saw Donald Trump elected.
Mantra (OM), a Layer 1 blockchain focused on real-world assets (RWA), has significantly outperformed the wider market, with its open interest increasing by approximately 516% since November 6th.Memecoins also continue to capture attention.
Despite their high volatility, traders have been actively speculating on them through futures instruments, with three of the top ten assets in our chart being memecoins.
XRP has also seen notable growth, with its total open interest reaching $1.7 billion, making it the third-largest asset by open interest.
XRP’s open interest has increased by roughly 157%, a trend mirrored by XLM, its most closely correlated asset, which has experienced a 309% increase over the same period.
This heightened speculation appears to be driven by expectations of a shift in the SEC’s regulatory approach following Trump’s inauguration.
*Note: Analysis includes the top ten assets with open interest exceeding $100 million.
In this week's COTW, we examine the daily price moves of Bitcoin since its inception.
On November 11th, Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $90,000, closing the day with a significant $8,329 gain from its opening price of $80,429.
This marked the largest single-day price increase in USD value, surpassing the previous record of $7,569 set on February 8th 2021.
Additionally, it recorded the 4th intraday swing between the daily highs and lows.
As Bitcoin continues its upward trajectory, daily price swings will likely be more frequent in the coming months.
This week’s COTW examines the impact on BTC, ETH, SOL, and assets labelled as securities by the SEC over the last 36 hours.
A positive outcome of the recent presidential election is the potential for more productive conversations and the establishment of comprehensive regulatory frameworks for digital assets.
Additionally, with the Senate now leaning to the right—historically a significant barrier to passing digital asset policies in the U.S.—this shift could drive new momentum.
As a result, we observe an outsized positive impact on Altcoins, with SOL (+18.22%) outperforming - as both a leading Layer 1 and an asset previously deemed a security - since yesterday’s daily open.
Although Altcoins have been a major laggard to BTC this year as evidenced by growing BTC Dominance reaching its highest level since mid-2021, this historic election may have tipped the scale in favour of Alts, with the SECurities basket returning 11.39% since yesterday’s daily open.
Altcoins which have previously suffered uncertainty, are now responding to improved prospects of regulatory consistency and clarity.
This week's COTW, we analyse Bitcoin's gains in price and market dominance, indicating a significant shift in the crypto landscape.
At the start of 2024, Bitcoin traded around $44,000 with a market dominance near 50%.
Earlier this week, it surged to past $73,600, lifting its dominance to 57.3%. This year, Bitcoin’s performance has outpaced most altcoins, driven by strong institutional demand.
CME has dominated BTC open interest, recently hitting a new all-time high.
The upcoming US election and recent developments including a new BRICS proposal exploring the potential use of Bitcoin for international payments have further bolstered its value.
On October 19th, the Bitcoin open interest on centralised exchanges recorded a new all-time high of $45.8bn coinciding with an 8.1% surge in Bitcoin’s price to $68,370 from the previous week.
CME, the institutional exchange, captured the largest share of open interest among all centralised exchanges, accounting for 31.1% of the total.
The increase in open interest highlights the optimism as Bitcoin nears its previous all-time high. Positive catalysts such as easing macroeconomic factors and the upcoming US presidential election in November are helping to fuel this rally.
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