Decentral Block Post

The European stock markets and the United States equities markets are both deep in the red on Aug. 22 as investors fear that aggressive rate hikes may not be off the table. 

Another thing keeping investors nervous could be the upcoming  Jackson Hole economic symposium, which is scheduled to begin on Aug. 25. Investors are concerned that Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell could further elaborate on the Fed's hawkish stance and plans for future interest rate hikes.

This macro uncertainty has kept the institutional investors away from the crypto markets. CoinShares data showed that crypto investment products recorded weekly volumes of $1 billion, which is 55% lower than the yearly average.

On-chain analytics resource Material Indicators said that Bitcoin (BTC) has not broken below the July lows. This suggests that the bear market rally is not yet over. However, buyers will have to push the price above the 200-week moving average of near $23,000 to gain the upper hand.

Could Bitcoin and most major altcoins make a strong comeback in the next few days and what are the critical levels to watch out for? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin (BTC) drifted near $21,000 on the Aug. 22 Wall Street open as the new week began without a rebound.

European commodity surge hammers euro

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD failing to summon a comeback after last week’s 11.6% losses.

The pair put in fresh multi-week lows under $20,800 over the weekend, subsequently staging a modest relief bounce to circle $21,200 at the time of writing.

Anxiousness over European markets and the upcoming United States Federal Reserve Jackson Hole symposium contributed to a downbeat mood on risk assets. The S&P 500 lost 1.8% within two hours of opening, while the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 2.2%.

In Europe, gas and electricity prices surged again over fears that supplies from Russia could be throttled harder and sooner than expected.

The percentage of USD Circle (USDC) stablecoins held by major wallet addresses dropped to its lowest point in almost two years as the cryptocurrency market downturn continues.

Cryptocurrency analytics firm Glassnode has released the latest data on USDC metrics, reflecting a recent sell-off of the second biggest U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin by market capitalization.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, sanctions imposed on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash by the U.S. Treasury Department had a marked effect on the capitalization of both USDC and its biggest competitor, Tether (USDT).

While USDT markets saw growth of almost $2 billion in the days following the sanctions, USDC’s market cap shrunk after its issuer Circle decided to freeze some 75,000 USDC tokens held by addresses linked to Tornado Cash.

Related: Independent Tether attestation reveals 58% decrease in commercial paper holdings