At the beginning of June, risk appetite was weak. Three altcoins worthy of attention

At the beginning of June, the cryptocurrency market started cautiously, and liquidity was still limited.

ETH, XLM and PENDLE are currently facing critical technical tests.

Those assets that have both support levels and a strong market outlook are likely to be winners.

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With the cryptocurrency market starting June with lower risk appetite, “Which assets can hold their ground?” has become the current focus of the market. Bitcoin's retreat into tighter ranges after an attempted rally in May has also dampened demand for other altcoins. The delay in expected interest rate cuts at the macro level is the main factor complicating this situation. U.S. inflation continues to be above target, reducing the Fed’s room for easing policy; this increases the cost of funding for high-beta assets such as cryptocurrencies, leading to more selective pricing, especially in the altcoin space.

While liquidity remains concentrated on Bitcoin and the main assets, there is an increasing divergence between altcoins. On the one hand, some projects are under pressure due to ETF outflows, high interest rate environment and risk aversion; on the other hand, those assets that can build their own stories - such as those involving regulation, institutional integration, risk-weighted assets (RWA), stable crypto infrastructure or decentralized finance (DeFi) profit models - have shown greater resilience.

In the short term, the key factor determining the direction of altcoins appears to be the quality of liquidity in the market, rather than the trend of Bitcoin. That's because, in the current environment, it's difficult for a rally to spread across the board; even projects with strong news may face rapid profit-taking. This makes the technical aspects even more important. The price of Ethereum (ETH) is still looking to break out of key resistance levels, while XLM is testing whether the pullback following the strong breakout can remain healthy. Although PENDLE’s fundamentals show strong DeFi potential, it has not yet completely escaped technical pressure.