Bitcoin, Ether decline as Dogecoin leads gains ahead of Elon Musk’s biography

Dogecoin led the winners in the top 10, in anticipation of Tesla owner Elon Musk’s upcoming biography, which reportedly details his involvement in the memecoin’s development. Bitcoin and Ether slipped during afternoon trading in Asia, as market experts are eyeing lower lows.

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Dogecoin leads winners in top 10 ahead of Elon Musk’s biography

Dogecoin was the day’s biggest gainer in the top 10 cryptocurrencies, rising 1.41% to US$0.06415, in anticipation of Tesla owner and Dogecoin fan Elon Musk’s upcoming biography. Set to be published on Sept. 12, the biography reportedly contains details of how the billionaire “quietly funded” the development of the memecoin, contributing to its popularity.

Bitcoin was little changed during afternoon trading in Asia, trading at US$25,724 as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong.

The world’s first cryptocurrency could likely fall lower in the near future, Lucas Kiely, the chief investment officer of digital asset platform Yield App, told Forkast.

“Bitcoin remains in a bearish pattern. If Bitcoin falls below US$25,000, it is likely to drop to approximately US$20,000. In a Fibonacci retracement, the price could alternatively drop to approximately US$23,000,” wrote Kiely.

“Bitcoin is still most likely to break down from current levels – the longer Bitcoin trades sideways, the further the probable price decline. “

Ether slipped 0.18% during afternoon trading in Asia to US$1,624 and declined 1.24% during the past week.

Toncoin was the biggest loser in the top 10, after a 4.46% decline in the past 24 hours to US$1.81, but strengthened 20.67% on the week.

The total crypto market capitalization over the past 24 hours fell 0.78% to US$1.04 trillion while market volume increased 11.51% to US$24.07 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Bored Ape Yacht Club sales soar over 400%

The Forkast 500 NFT index slipped 0.18% to 2,191.27 points in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong and fell 1.72% during the week. 

Ethereum’s 24-hour non-fungible token (NFT) sales rose 21.56% to US$5.56 million, boosted by a 409.37% sales increase for the largest Ethereum-native NFT collection, the Bored Ape Yacht Club that generated US$946,506 worth of sales for the network. 

CryptoPunks sales strengthened 174.01%.

Mythos Chain remained the second largest blockchain by 24-hour sales volume, as sales rose 3.6% in the past 24 hours to US$1.22 million. The network was boosted by the DMarket collection that generated US$1.2 million in sales for the network in the past 24 hours, becoming the largest NFT collection by daily sales volume.

“Sales are up from yesterday, but it’s hard to call this bullish with how low sales have fallen. The weekend brought sales of just US$7-8 million daily across blockchains, which is a staggeringly low number,”  said Yehudah Petscher, NFT strategist at Forkast Labs. 

German automaker Mercedes-Benz is set to unveil its third NFT collection, the Mercedes-Benz NXT Icons, set to start minting later today starting from 0.1 Eth, aiming to showcase the design history of the brand.

Asian, European, U.S. equities fall following weak PMI data from Europe

Most major Asian equities – Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, the Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite – fell as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, except Japan’s Nikkei 225.

The declines occurred after Asian investors were spooked by a sharp drop in U.S. futures, and with September historically the weakest month for equities.

Major U.S. stock futures – Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, the S&P 500 futures index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 futures – fell on the week’s first trading day following Labor Day.

Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 and Frankfurt’s DAX 40 both lost over 0.4%, in line with U.S. equities.

Investor confidence took a hit from weak purchasing manager index (PMI) figures for Spain and Italy that reflected an unexpected contraction in services last month. Private sector activity in Germany and France also declined more than analyst expectations.

The ECB Consumer Expectations Survey showed stronger consumer expectations for eurozone inflation in the next three years, even as expectations over the next 12 months remained unchanged from July’s 3.4%.

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