Music streaming service Spotify may be dipping its toe into Web3 with a new pilot involving “token-enabled playlists,” allowing holders of non-fungible tokens to connect their wallets and listen to curated music. Spotify is offering this exclusively to token holders in the Fluf, Moonbirds, Kingship and Overlord communities for a three-month testing period. Spotify told CoinDesk that it “routinely conducts a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience.”
Market Insight: Bitcoin Bear ‘Wave’ Looms
QCP Capital/TradingView
Despite bitcoin’s 47% year-to-date rally, a further bearish wave could still be on the cards, according to Singapore-based crypto options trader QCP Capital.
Analysis based on Elliott Wave theory, which was introduced by Ralph Nelson Elliott in 1938 in his book, “The Wave Principle,” suggests that bitcoin is in a “bear breather,” which could be followed by a further slide downward.
Elliott found that market trends form five waves. Waves 1, 3 and 5 are “impulse waves” representing the broader trend, while waves 2 and 4 are “retrace waves,” representing a temporary “breather.”
According to QCP, wave 1 started in November 2021 when bitcoin fell from its record high of $69,000 to $39,000 in January 2022. Wave 2 – the first “bear breather” – saw bitcoin recover to $48,000 in March 2022, while the crash to $15,480 throughout the rest of the year was wave 3.
Should this trend run its course, wave 5 could see bitcoin drop back to wave 3’s floor of $15,480, if not lower.
The table shows the probabilities for the Federal Reserve rate hikes over the coming months.
Early this month, traders were confident that the Fed would hike its benchmark interest rate just by 25 basis points in March, but now they see a 26% chance of a 50 basis point rate hike in March.
Traders see a 28% chance of rates rising as high as 5.75% in July from the current 4.75%.
The Fed tightening is now seen extending into the third quarter, Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex and the author of the Marc to Market blog, wrote in the daily newsletter.
Aggressive repricing of continued Fed rate hikes might put pressure on risky assets, including cryptocurrencies.
– Omkar Godbole
Over the past few months, CoinDesk has been developing a reward system for Consensus 2023 attendees to bring long-term value. We’ve partnered with Art Blocks Engine, TokenProof and Passage Protocol to launch the Consensus Multi-Year, Multi-Tiered NFT Ticket, coming on March 2. Learn more.
Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.
