© Reuters
By Sam Boughedda
Morgan Stanley analyst Sheena Shah wrote in a note to clients regarding the cryptocurrency market on Monday that the largest alt-coin is underperforming, similar to the 2018 pullback.
Crypto derivatives are deviating from their underlying assets, and a major crypto lender has stopped customer withdrawals, Shah said, presumably referring to lender Celsius Network.
“Ethereum (ETH) is weakening faster than . USD liquidity is being pulled from markets and expectations of Fed interest rate hikes are negatively impacting crypto prices,” said writes Shah. “When the relative crossover drops, it’s a sign that the general enthusiasm for crypto is waning, as investments are pulled out of the more volatile ‘alternative currencies’.”
Shah added that “ETH USD price cycle appears to be similar to 2018 when charted against the peak.”
“The potential difference in the current price cycle is that it is largely institutional crypto participants selling, as opposed to 2018 when retail participant trading activity was much higher.”