Crypto market stabilises in September after August turbulence

Binance Australia has released its latest Monthly Market Insights report, shedding light on the cryptocurrency market's performance in September. The report details a month of stabilisation following August’s volatility, influenced by global macroeconomic concerns, unexpected US unemployment data, and a rate hike in Japan.

According to the report, August saw a 13.1% decline in the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin experienced an 11.1% drop, while Ethereum, the second most popular digital coin, fell by 24.9%. Despite this downturn, the year-to-date (YTD) market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has risen by 26%, with Bitcoin alone returning 41% since the beginning of the year.

Commenting on the market conditions, Vishal Sacheendran, Head of Regional Markets at Binance, stated, "Risk assets were sold off across the board in August as markets digested soft economic data and the geopolitical environment continued to be uncertain." He added, "Since the start of August we have actually seen the price of cryptocurrencies stabilising, with Bitcoin finding support around the USD $60,000 range."

Despite the overall market downturn in August, TRX emerged as the best performer among the top 10 largest coins, surging by 19.5%. This performance was largely attributed to the launch of SunPump, a memecoin launchpad backed by TRON founder Justin Sun. The introduction of SunPump brought significant liquidity and attention to the TRON ecosystem, leading to a 65.6% increase in TRX’s monthly trading volume.

However, previous market favourite TON experienced a 20.4% decline in August. The network faced a major six-hour outage caused by congestion from the popular memecoin DOGS. This incident halted block production, disrupted deposits and withdrawals on centralised exchanges, and interrupted functionalities within the Telegram Wallet.

The report also highlights the growing institutional interest in Ethereum, particularly through ETH ETFs. August 23 marked one month since these ETFs started trading in the US. Although they did not drive the expected substantial price surge, they attracted more than USD $2 billion in inflows. Sacheendran noted, "What is notable about the strong inflows is that the ETH ETFs’ first month of trading included a downturn in global markets that negatively affected the prices of most asset classes." He continued, "The newly unveiled ETFs arguably performed well under difficult macro conditions, and there’s evidence suggesting that rising institutional interest is the primary driver of this dynamic. We expect this interest to remain a strong factor supporting ETH’s performance in the medium term."

In addition to the focus on Ethereum, the report pointed out that traditional financial giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley purchased more than USD $600 million in spot Bitcoin ETFs during Q2 of this year. This demonstrates a sustained expansion of major financial institutions into the digital asset space. Sacheendran commented, "This continued trend means more capital flowing into the crypto space, more liquidity in crypto markets, as well as more awareness and increased adoption trickling down to new categories of investors."