Over the weekend, Bitcoin slipped from the $84K level on January 31 to around $77K by February 2, Asia time. Ethereum followed a similar trend, declining from roughly $2,400 to the $2,300 mark.
CoinMarketCap’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index dropped to 15, near levels last seen in November (around 10), indicating rising fear sentiment driven by macroeconomic pressures and ongoing uncertainty.
What Traders Should Watch Out for This Week
Last Friday, Trump nominated Kevin Warsh, a perceived hawkish former Fed governor, as the next chair, which fueled fears of tightening monetary policy. Traders are all wondering what Warsh’s next move will be as moving forward with interest rates and inflation.
The US government also entered a partial shutdown on January 31, amplifying weekend risk aversion as contributing to crypto plunges and stock futures weakness, increasing weekend risk avoidance, and uncertainty over how cryptocurrency regulations will progress in the coming weeks.
These factors led to a general “risk-off” mood among traders as they sold off cryptocurrencies and delevered their portfolios.
Here are the major economic indicators to watch out for this week:
- Feb 2: S&P flash U.S. manufacturing PMI, and ISM manufacturing
- Feb 3: Job openings, S&P final U.S. services PMI, and ISM services
- Feb 4: ADP employment
- Feb 5: Initial jobless claims
- Feb 6: U.S. employment report, U.S. hourly wages, Consumer sentiment (prelim), and Consumer credit
