Bitcoin and Ethereum Waver–Why Did Trading Volume Drop?

The cryptocurrency market wavered Friday as trading volumes cooled, with Bitcoin and Ethereum drifting downward despite positive momentum earlier this week.

Following Bitcoin’s jump to $94,600 on Wednesday, the leading digital asset by market capitalization changed hands around $95,300, a 4.6% increase over the past seven days, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko. Ethereum has risen 5.9% to $3,250 over the same period of time.

Trading volumes for Bitcoin and Ethereum had meanwhile fallen 27% and 32% each to $65 billion and $54 billion, respectively, according to CoinGlass. The trend extended to various actions, including Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin.

The drop follows Coinbase’s withdrawal of support for a crypto market structure bill, following weeks of lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill, and tensions boiling to the surface over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s treatment of crypto firms among Democratic lawmakers.

“I’m still quite optimistic that this bill is going to get done in a very bipartisan and strong way,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said during a Friday appearance on Fox Business. ” I did come out and say that I thought there were those issues, while deferring to the Senate on the exact procedure going forward from here.” 

On Thursday, several commentators skewered the SEC in a letter addressed to Chair Paul Atkins.

“There was a lot of optimism that we would see that passed this year,” Carlos Guzman, a research analyst at crypto trading firm GSR, told Decrypt, referring to the CLARITY Act. “The rally seemed to coincide with [a new version of the bill] getting released.”

Although efforts to mark up the bill were delayed by the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, Guzman pointed to the potential impact of other factors, including geopolitical tension in the Middle East sparked by protests in Iran and developments in President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell issued a warning that the White House was trying to undermine the central bank’s independence, after news broke of Justice Department subpoenas centered on testimony he gave regarding a multi-billion dollar renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. Guzman said it was notable that stocks fell, while crypto and precious metals advanced.

Since Monday, spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have generated consistent inflows, pulling in $1.8 billion over the course of a four-day stretch, according to CoinGlass.

Jasper De Maere, a desk strategist at crypto market maker Wintermute wrote in a note on Thursday that the dynamic suggests “participation remains narrow,” with the bulk of the heavy lifting being done on Wall Street recently.

“Retail has been largely absent, with activity staying subdued even as prices climb,” he wrote. That might be shifting now as Bitcoin grabs headlines again, but this rally has been primarily an institutional and ETF story.”