BNB’s Rally Narrows Gap with Ether Amid Mixed Market Signals and ETF Outflows

In the week leading up to March 29, BNB’s value saw a 12% increase, reaching a high of $620, marking a notable upturn and closing the valuation gap with its rival, Ether, which saw a 5% rise in the same period.

Despite this growth, the BNB Chain’s on-chain data sends mixed signals, indicating that the rally might be overextended.

This recent surge in cryptocurrency value has been linked to inflows into spot Bitcoin BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

However, a setback was observed in the week ending March 23, with a net outflow of $890 million from these ETFs, marking their first net outflow since their introduction in January.

Yet, there was a silver lining with a significant decrease in outflows from the Grayscale GBTC fund, which only saw $104 million leave on March 28.

BNB’s momentum in the first half of March, with a 61.7% increase, was dampened after peaking at $645.

This peak brought BNB’s market capitalization to $96.4 billion, down from its all-time high of $116 billion in November 2021.

The total value locked (TVL) in BNB Chain also saw a decline, from $15.7 billion at its peak to $7.1 billion, a 55% reduction.

The crypto market, especially decentralized finance (DeFi), has seen significant contractions since late 2021.

READ MORE: Bitcoin Braces for Supply Crunch as Demand Skyrockets, Warns CryptoQuant

This downturn isn’t unique to BNB Chain, as the total market data for blockchains tracked by DefiLlama decreased by 25%, from nearly $205 billion to $155 billion.

Despite these challenges, BNB Chain remains a key player in the crypto market, rivaling Ethereum’s layer-2 networks in activity levels.

Nearly 2 million active addresses engaged with DApps on BNB Chain in the past week.

The blockchain also stood out for its trading volume, which, unlike Solana and Ethereum, saw an 11% increase, reaching $12.4 billion.

Looking ahead, the future of the cryptocurrency sector is difficult to predict, but derivative metrics like the demand for leverage in BNB perpetual futures contracts offer insights.

The steady 8-hour funding rate of around 0.03%, equivalent to about 0.6% weekly, suggests a cautiously optimistic market sentiment, despite the price challenges at the $620 level.

This careful optimism is bolstered by the enduring interest in leveraged long positions, despite the uncertain market trajectory.

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