Bitcoin dropped below the $20,000 mark following remarks from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell late last week, after he vowed to maintain the U.S. central bank's hawkish stance to continue to raise interest rates to tame inflation. Cheddar News speaks with Karim Dandashy, portfolio manager at Stablehouse, about where he sees coin prices going from here.

Closing Bell

How to Trade Crypto Amid Recent Volatility

well, joining me now is Karim dan Dashi portfolio manager for a stable house to crypto exchange firm Karim thanks so much for coming on the show. So, Bitcoin gaining some ground since dropping below 20,000 earlier today. Can we see crypto prices move higher from here? Yeah, thank you for having me, Kristen really appreciate it. Um, yeah, I mean that's, that's a big question on everybody's mind. I think the reality is, is, you know, crypto followed broader macro markets following friday's move lower after Jackson Hole speech by, by jerome Powell. And I think everybody is kind of thinking ultimately, what are, what's the trading range and what's the catalyst to take us higher. Um, in my mind right now, you know, really thinking about 21,000 100 which is the level that we rejected right before the speech and then also to the downside, you know, thinking about 19,000, which was part of the large liquidation event we saw back in june talk to me more about the merge, Karim, I did see even the new york times, right, Legacy newspaper publishing an explainer, basically on the so called merge that we expect for ethereum and ether, how does that impact the market outlook from here? Yeah, that's a that's a great question actually, if you were to ask me, I would tell you that the merge is probably the biggest event in crypto in 2022. It's a big step in taking, you know, crypto to the next to the next length forward and, you know, ultimately the reduction in emissions are going to come from ethereum staking, you know, from the proof of stake consensus method will be massive and, you know, it will really enable ethereum to kind of start onboarding real world assets on the Blockchain, Does this make even more attractive? You think in the future, I mean, Bitcoin still by and large does take the cake in terms of the most valuable Cryptocurrency, Kareem, but is this gonna shift that model? Yeah, it very well could, uh, and, you know, the reality is that the merge currently is priced into an extent, there's always going to be a degree of failure that's priced in. But, you know, once we get to a point where the merge is behind us and, you know, it's gone successfully, I think what you'll see is, you know, the focus will pivot to kind of where the benefits that we get from it, and that's really what will kind of probably drive more adoption and really drive kind of the real world usage of the theory and logic as a portfolio manager, what are the trades that you're making now? That's a great question. That's a great, you know, very risk conscious over the last few months. And I think the reality is, is that we're in a place where the fear and greed index is, you know, showing extreme fear across market participants though. What's notable is that, you know, we're in a healthier environment than we were a few months ago, largely because we don't have, you know, the unhealthy institutions and unhealthy leverage that we saw back in june which ultimately led to the collapse of Celsius and and three hours capital. So so in my mind, you know, being risk conscious, but you know, really, really watching out for the upside and and really paying attention to macro events to really give us a signal for all clear to, you know, for for for risk rally. Okay, so macro events clearly driving your own strategy cream. I think that that's very telling in and of itself important for people to know. I'm just curious how do you look at the altar space? The defi space? Are these spaces as a portfolio manager that you're engaging with or you thinking more of just kind of the bread and butter here of the business Bitcoin and ether and the overall macro trends? Yeah. You know, it's tough in a risk off environment. The reality is that the adults are almost always going to underperform. However, the reality is that you do want to position yourself to kind of benefit from the next leg up eventually. So, you know, liking adults two degree in spots where you kind of, you have high conviction and you really back to back the the coin and the token ah mix makes sense. But you know, in addition to that um you know, very focused on like core like ethereum which you know, ultimately, you know, a lot of people have been talking about the pivot where, you know, ultimately, uh, sorry, the flipping in like I said, um, so ultimately looking for ethereum to kind of surpassed Bitcoin in total usage. So the reality is that like all, it's really fun, you know, to only to an extent, but you know, once we get back to risk on environment, I think also really pick up and then people really start thinking about the more seriously. Yeah. Alright, Karim, we've got to leave it there. Come back on the show. Good to get your take. That's Karim dan dash portfolio manager for a stable house. Thanks.