This is a very brief and simple update on what we witnessed this week in the cryptocurrency market. Keeping up with the latest developments in the market is essential for making better decisions. Let's analyze the market. Are you ready? Join us!

Weekly update on the U.S. market

The U.S. S&P 500 index decreased from $6,050.84 to $5,930.84, marking a decline of 2.02%. Notably, all major markets, including Europe, China, Japan, India, South Africa, and Australia, experienced declines this week. Europe decreased by 2.04% and China decreased by 0.65%.

This week, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points, bringing borrowing costs down to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%. The final quarterly GDP growth index of the U.S. increased slightly from 3% in Q2 to 3.1% in Q3. The initial jobless claims index in the U.S. dropped sharply to 220K in the second week of December from 224K in the first week. The U.S. core PCE price index decreased to 0.1% in November from 0.3% in October.

In addition to these indicators, several key metrics were released this week. The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index fell from 31.2 points to 0.2 points in December. The U.S. S&P Global Composite PMI Flash surged from 54.9 to 56.6 in December. The U.S. S&P Global Manufacturing PMI Flash decreased from 49.7 to 48.3 in December. Meanwhile, the U.S. S&P Services PMI Flash skyrocketed to 58.5 from 56.1. The U.S. monthly retail sales index decreased from 0.5 in October to 0.7% in November. The U.S. monthly industrial production improved slightly from -0.4% to -0.1%.

The U.S. corporate investor index increased by about 0.1% in October. The U.S. NAHB housing market index remained at 46 points in December, unchanged. The U.S. API crude oil inventory fluctuation decreased to 4.7 million barrels in the first week of December from 1.232 million barrels in the last week of November. The U.S. housing starts index decreased to 1.29 million units in November from 1.31 million units in October. The U.S. existing home sales index surged to 4.15 million units in November from 3.96 million units in October.

This week, the U.S. dollar showed strength against most major currencies, including the Euro, Chinese Yuan, Japanese Yen, and Indian Rupee. Against the U.S. dollar, the Euro increased by 0.70%, the Yuan increased by 0.27%, the Yen increased by 1.78%, and the Rupee increased by 0.20%.

This week's cryptocurrency market scenario

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization decreased by 8.2% this week. The altcoin market capitalization fell from $1.55 trillion to $1.39 trillion. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum dropped from $1.07 trillion to $969.31 billion. The total market capitalization excluding the top ten cryptocurrencies decreased from $406.93 billion to $348.32 billion.


Overview of the Bitcoin market

On December 16, Monday, the price of Bitcoin stood at $106,058.18. On Thursday, the price dropped to a low of $97,461.38. At one point on Friday, the price fell to a low of $92,198.03. However, by closing time, buyers had pushed the price to about $97,812.27. From December 16 to December 20, the market decreased at least 7.77%.

Analysis of the Ethereum market situation

On December 16, the price of Ethereum was $3,988.87. By December 19, the price had fallen to a low of $3,415.69, recording a severe adjustment of 14.36%. As of December 20, the price had decreased to a low of $3,108.75. By closing time, buyers had pushed the price up to $3,471.16. From December 16 to December 20, the market dropped more than 12.97%.

Top ten cryptocurrencies: Weekly performance review

In the past seven days, nearly all of the top ten cryptocurrencies declined. Dogecoin showed the highest seven-day drop of 19.1%. Cardano and Solana followed with declines of 13.4% and 12.5%, respectively. Ethereum decreased by 10.8%. Bitcoin, XRP, and BNB dropped by 3.9%, 6.0%, and 5.6%, respectively.

Binance HODLer Airdrops, Circle Ventures Portfolio, Binance Launchpool, Binance Labs Portfolio, and Coinbase Ventures Portfolio are the five leading trending portfolios at the time of writing. Among these portfolios, Binance HODLer Airdrops had the highest seven-day change of +181.3%.

Hyperliquid, LUKSO, Pudgy Penguins, Ethena, and Sui are the five leading trending cryptocurrencies. Among the top five, Hyperliquid had the highest seven-day change of 54.6%.

Overview of cryptocurrency portfolios

In the past seven days, the Smart Contract Platform portfolio has decreased by about 6.7%, Layer 1 decreased by 6.0%, Proof of Work decreased by 4.4%, Proof of Stake decreased by 11.6%, Centralized Exchange Tokens decreased by 4.1%, Decentralized Finance decreased by 9.9%, Meme decreased by 16.9%, Liquidity Staking decreased by 11.7%, Crypto-backed Tokens decreased by 8.7%, Wrapped Tokens decreased by 8.6%, Decentralized Exchanges decreased by 3.8%, Artificial Intelligence decreased by 14.5%, DePIN decreased by 17.6%, NFT decreased by 21.4%, Layer 2 decreased by 13.1%, GameFi decreased by 20.7%, Yield Farming decreased by 17.4%, Real World Assets decreased by 8.9%, Layer 0 decreased by 19%, Metaverse decreased by 20.7%, Internet of Things decreased by 20.1%, Game Utility Tokens decreased by 19.5%, Gaming Governance Token increased by 19.9%, Liquid Staking Governance Token increased by 22.2%, and Bridge Governance Token increased by 18.6%.

Meanwhile, Stablecoin increased by 0.8%, Perpetuals rose by 35.9%, Binance HODLer Airdrops surged by 181.3%, AI Agent Launchpad increased by 2.2%, and the Virtuals Protocol Ecosystem grew by 13.9%.

In summary, this week, global markets, including the U.S., Europe, China, Japan, and India, faced declines, along with an 8.2% drop in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies experienced losses. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points. The U.S. dollar strengthened against major currencies. Overall, it was a challenging week for both traditional and digital asset markets.