Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here's what's happening this morning:

Market Moves: Polygon's MATIC Hits Highest Since May
Technician's Take: ETH Trapped in a Narrowing Price Range

Be on the lookout for the following events today:

13:30 UTC (08:30 a.m. ET):
- U.S. Trade Balance (Nov)

And check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time.

– Omkar

Risk appetite returned to crypto markets early Tuesday, with bitcoin moving back above $50,000. Ether topped $4,400 but failed to keep gains.

Three Arrow Capital's addresses received 91,477 ETH worth about $400 million over the weekend, according to data tracked by Nansen and tweeted by China journalist Colin Wu. Three Arrows Capital's Su Zhu confirmed data tweeted by Wu, calling 100,000 ETH as dust.

Coins associated with other smart contract blockchains Solana, Cardano, Polkadot, Terra, Avalanche posted stronger gains, having shown some resilience during the weekend drop. LRC, the native token of Ethereum-based Loopring project allowing developers to build their own decentralized exchanges, surged over 30%, becoming one of the best performing cryptocurrencies of the past 24 hours.

Scaling solution Polygon's MATIC token rallied 27% to seven-month highs above $2.4. The seven-day average of Polygon's active addresses rose to a six-month high of 7,591, validating the cryptocurrency's bullish move.

While the broader market bounced, options market continued to show persistent bias for downside protection or put options in bitcoin. Following the weekend's drop and the resulting spike in implied volatility, many traders took short straddles and strangles. These strategies taken when the implied volatility is expected to drop.

In traditional markets, the MSCI Asia Pacific rose by the most in three months, while Europe's Stoxx 600 gapped higher perhaps on China's stimulus. The futured tied to the S&P 500 rose 1.3%.

Also read:

Blame the Bitcoin Bond? El Salvador’s Dollar-Denominated Debt Slides

A Message from Bybit

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These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:

Top Gainers:

Polygon (MATIC): 27%
Chainlink (LINK): 11.6%
Stellar (XLM): 10%

Top Losers:

There are no losers in CoinDesk 20.

The CoinDesk 20 are 20 digital assets filtered from the larger universe of thousands of cryptocurrencies and constitute roughly 99% of the market by volume at eight of the largest and most trustworthy exchanges.

Ether's Narrowing Price Range

Ether's daily chart (Source: TradingView)

Ether's contracting triangle represents indecision in the marketplace.
The next big move is likely to unfold in the direction in which the ongoing narrowing price range is resolved.

Also read:

Bitcoin Technical Indicator Suggests Low Probability of ‘Santa Rally’

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In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

Bitcoin, Altcoins Regain Ground; What Caused the Weekend Crash? Trung Nguyen on Axie Infinity’s Next Move

"First Mover" dives into crypto markets to discuss what happened over the weekend when bitcoin and altcoins suddenly dropped dramatically. GlobalBlock CEO Rufus Round shares his analysis and outlook. Also, Sky Mavis Co-founder & CEO Trung Nguyen on Axie Infinity's popularity and the future of NFT gaming.

Blame the Bitcoin Bond? El Salvador’s Dollar-Denominated Debt Slides
El Salvador’s bitcoin bond is a contributing factor to a slide in its dollar-denominated debt, but not the sole reason.
Why Metaverse Tokens Are Getting Hammered in Crypto’s Market Sell-Off
While the future of metaverse and gaming tokens looks bright, there’s little real adoption in the present, according to one analyst.
Craig Wright Found Not Liable for Breach of Kleiman Business Partnership
A jury ruled Wright must pay $100 million to W&K Info Defense Research but cleared him of all other charges.
DAOs and the Next Crowdfunding Gold Rush

Fundraiser DAOs are essentially informal, unregulated Kickstarters. Is that why people are buying in?
Argo Blockchain’s Mining Revenue Increased 15% in November as It Added Capacity
Argo mined 185 bitcoin or bitcoin equivalent during the month, bringing its 2021 total to 1,831.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.