Week of 7 August 2023: both assets rise slightly on volume below the 12-week average

What the data shows. Both assets bottomed first: BTC's low of 28,701.03 and ETH's of 1,802.00 came at 16:00 UTC on Monday 7 August, and both weekly highs (30,244.00 and 1,876.51) arrived at 21:00 UTC on Tuesday 8 August. From there the week drifted; the best day for both was Tuesday (BTC +1.91%, ETH +1.49%). The largest hourly moves were small and negative (BTC -0.83%, ETH -0.64%), and both closes sat in the middle third of their weekly ranges. The two moved closely but not identically (hourly correlation 0.85), and the ETH/BTC ratio slipped just 0.17%, so neither asset led in any meaningful way.

What it does not show. Weak volume cannot tell us whether trading interest was absent or whether buyers and sellers simply matched each other. The data has no order-book or open-interest figures, so the depth behind Tuesday's high is unknown. It also does not say whether the four prior weeks, three of them down, established a direction that this week continued or merely paused.

What a careful desk would check. Realised volatility, the size of the swings that actually happened scaled to a yearly figure, was 19.8% for BTC and 18.1% for ETH, so risk sized for calmer history would still have been reasonable. A desk would note that the week's low sat only 1.35% (BTC) and 1.57% (ETH) below the open, leaving little room between entry and stop for anyone buying Monday's dip.

Funding. BTC perpetual funding averaged 0.009% per eight hours, with a high of 0.01% and a low of 0.0046%; ETH averaged 0.0067%, with a high of 0.01% and a low of 0.0007%. Longs paid shorts throughout, but the data holds no funding figures for earlier weeks, so this level cannot be judged high or low against prior history.