Tag: crypto
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BTC touches $25k as crypto rallies
- Bitcoin reached highs of $25,230 across major exchanges, its highest price level in over six months.
- BTC price moved above its 200-week moving average’
- Analysts say bulls could target fresh gains as a bullish signal flashes.
Bitcoin broke above $25,000 as the momentum that pushed the flagship cryptocurrency higher on Wednesday continued into Thursday.
At around 11:15 am ET, the price of Bitcoin against the US dollar was up 10.7%, with BTC trading at $25,093 after briefly touching highs of $25,230 across major exchanges. Despite shedding some of the gains, BTC looks poised for further upside action should bulls successfully retest and hold prices above the critical $25,100 level.
Bitcoin price update: bulls eye new 2023 high
Today’s rally comes on the back of decent gains though, and crypto analyst Mohit Sorout earlier pointed to what he calls “the mother of all bullish signals.” Just before BTC hit the new year-to-date highs, the analyst wrote:
“The mother of all $btc bullish signals has flashed – DCA indicator. Historically, it has flashed only thrice in btc’s existence & each occurence led to massive rallies of 7400% (2015), 160% (2019) [and] 640% (2020). Today marks the 4th time this signal is suggesting a raging bullmarket.”
The mother of all $btc bullish signals has flashed – DCA indicator
Historically, it has flashed only thrice in btc’s existence & each occurence led to massive rallies of
7400% (2015)
160% (2019)
640% (2020)Today marks the 4th time this signal is suggesting a raging bullmarket pic.twitter.com/suMVlWFrzc
— Mohit Sorout 📈 (@singhsoro) February 16, 2023
PlanB, the creator of the stock-to-flow price model, shared the chart below showing Bitcoin’s rally on Thursday came as BTC price broke above the 200-week moving average.
What could happen next for Bitcoin? Well, a retreat to support above $24k or lower to $22.5k is possible before a slow grind pushes it up again. But according to pseudonymous analyst Moustache, $28k is very much achievable.
#Bitcoin (W)
As long as $BTC holds the 0.236 line🔴, things look good.
I expect a GOD-Candle to ~$28.000, IF $BTC breaks the black line.
There is nothing but air, between 24k-28k.That would hurt most bears out there tbh.🎯 pic.twitter.com/4TKqqNv7FC
— 𝕄𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔ⓗ𝕖 🧲 (@el_crypto_prof) February 15, 2023
BTC spike sees $230 million in liquidations
Bitcoin’s gains pushed its market capitalization to $526 billion, while a 7.9% jump in the total crypto market cap had the top altcoin Ethereum trading above $1,730 with double digit gains. Among the top ten cryptocurrencies, Polygon and OKB were also up more than 10%.
As prices rallied, traders who’d bet on broader declines were caught unawares, with over $230 in shorts liquidated. Liquidation data showed Bitcoin-tracked futures led with over $99.6 million in liquidations while Ethereum saw more than $64 million in liquidations in 24 hours.
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Crypto markets rallying but damage remains severe
Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin is up close to 50% from its lows, but is still down over two-thirds from all-time highs
- Some on-chain metrics show how much the rally pales in comparison to the prior fall
- Positive news from the industry remains few and far between, as market prepares for latest interest rate policy, to be revealed at FOMC meeting Wednesday
Let us start with a riddle. How much profit/loss have you made if an asset you own rises by 47%, having previously fallen by 77%?
The answer is a gruesome 67% loss.
That is the predicament facing Bitcoin investors who bought at all-time highs in late 2021. While markets have kicked off the year in scintillating fashion, it is important not to lose perspective.
Humans have short memories, though. With Bitcoin up nearly 50% from the lows post-FTX collapse, crypto markets have that giddy feel about them again. It’s amazing what hope can do for people, huh? And by hope, I mean hope that interest rates will come down again.
Federal Reserve controls the Bitcoin price
I wrote a piece last week about how this latest rally, if it shows anything, simply proves once and for all how much Bitcoin is trading as an extreme risk-on asset.
Bitcoin was crushed last year as central banks worldwide flipped hawkish for the first time in Bitcoin’s existence. With the cheap money of the last decade no longer available, and stout yields available on other investments such as T-bills, high-risk assets collapsed.
The tech sector, also notoriously sensitive to interest rates, has been sacking employees left, right and centre – Meta, Salesforce, Twitter, Google, and the list goes on.
This latest rally now comes as inflation begins to cool, with hope renewed that the pain of suffocating monetary policy will, in fact, one day come to an end.
Market remains ravaged
While the picture undoubtedly looks rosier than this time two months ago, the crypto market is still in a world of pain.
Bankruptcies are still flowing – see Genesis filing last week – while there are numerous other potential downside catalysts as the market still delves through Sam Bankman-Fried’s chaotic mess: DCG still present a lot of uncertainty, for example.
While prices have been running, there is no particularly good news to explain this rally. As I said, it’s all macro, with investors staring squarely at the Federal Reserve.
A couple of charts paint a good picture of the pain still present in markets. Despite the recent upturn, the net realised profit marker, which is an on-chain metric calculated by comparing the price of recent coins moved to the price at which they previously moved, shows how much the recent rally pales in comparison to the scale of the fall last year.
In truth, there is no need to complicate things. Despite the bluster of “hedge” narratives and “uncorrelated investment” that floated around through COVID, it is as clear as night and day that Bitcoin is trading off interest rate expectations right now.
The below chart is perhaps the most important one in all of crypto over the last couple of years.
That little bounce at the end could reverse very quickly depending on how things shake out at the upcoming Fed meeting. It could also do the opposite if things end up being more hawkish than the market has currently priced in.
Either way, it is clear what is moving markets right now.
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Crypto stocks outlook ahead of FOMC meeting
- Bitcoin miners Core Scientific rose 33% as stocks of Bitfarms, Stronghold Digital, CleanSpark all ended the past week higher.
- Coinbase and Robinhood shares also rose as Bitcoin broke above $23,000.
- FOMC meeting is this week and the market reaction will be key to what next for Bitcoin and crypto stocks.
A number of crypto-related stocks are looking to extend gains notched in the past few days after closing in positive territory on Friday.
Among those to rip are share prices of crypto mining firms that had been struggling badly after reaching new all-time lows amid the crypto winter.
This is happening even as Bitcoin price looks to push higher after holding above the $23,000 level over the weekend. A crucial macro news event to watch out for is the FOMC meeting this week.
Surge in Bitcoin price helped crypto stocks
Core Scientific (CORZ), the world’s largest publicly-traded Bitcoin miner, surged an impressive 33% on Friday, while crypto mining firm Digihost Technology (DGHI) saw its shares jump more than 11%.
Stocks of NASDAQ-listed miners Bitfarms (BITF), Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG), Bit Digital (BTBT) and CleanSpark (CLSK) all ended the week in the green. Elsewhere, NYSE-listed Bit Mining and SOS ADR also rose.
Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD) stocks also traded higher, with the US-based crypto exchange’s stock soaring more than 15% on Friday. Coinbase‘s stock is up more than 73% in the past 30 days before markets open on Monday, 30 January. Robinhood shares ended the week 8% higher and were up nearly 28% over the past 30 days.
Bitcoin price, FOMC – what next for crypto stocks?
As noted, most of these publicly listed crypto companies saw their share prices soar alongside the positive price action of Bitcoin. But crypto has also largely correlated with stocks, with this week crucial in terms of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting.
On the positive side of things…
BTC/USD reached highs of $23,955 last week and is up more than 40% year-to-date. According to recent data from crypto analytics platform Glassnode, BTC’s recent upside momentum has the flagship digital asset’s price above three key on-chain metrics.
The breakout above $22,800 had Bitcoin above both the long term and short term cost-basis as well as Realized Price – the first time this has happened since 2020 COVID-19 induced crash. Also, the previous time when prevailing BTC price was above the three metrics was during the 2018/19 bear market.
On the flipside…
As covered by CoinJournal, Glassnode suggested last week that bulls managing to hold above the $22.4k level would aid sentiment and potential further gains. However, this week could see recent momentum derailed if investor reaction to the Federal Reserve’s FOMC minutes turns out to be negative.
Investors are bracing for another rate hike this week, with markets expecting a 25 basis point increase. @steveliesman reports on whether a #PowellPivot is close: pic.twitter.com/BGF5sRScXE
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) January 30, 2023
Although the market already expects a 25 basis point rate hike, some experts believe it would be a disaster for the markets if the Fed goes for a 50 basis point hike instead.
According to CoinGecko, Bitcoin was trading 1.1% down at 7:15 am ET on Monday as FOMC-related volatility likely began to set in across markets.
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The market saw over 340,000 NFT buyers as crypto rallied
- NFT buyers last week rose to 348,426, about 41% up on the previuos week.
- NFT sales volume also rose, with more than $244 million in sales last week representing a 5.4% increase.
- Sales (USD) volume and buyers increased in tandem with Bitcoin price hitting levels above $23,000.
Non-fungible token (NFT) data from last week shows the market attracted 348,426 buyers, roughly 41% higher than the previous week.
According to NFT data platform CryptoSlam, the buyer count of nearly 350,000 corresponds to a 40.99% this past week.
As of Tuesday morning, 24 January, 2023, there had been over 419,000 unique buyers year-to-date. The uptick coincides with a rally across crypto, with volatility pushing Bitcoin price above $23,000 and Ethereum above $1,600 for the first time since early November 2022.
Indeed, as data from CoinGecko shows, Bitcoin’s price is currently up more than 7% this past week. Over the last two weeks, the flagship cryptocurrency’s value has soared 35%.
Among top blockchains with most buyers on the 7-day timeframe, Ethereum leads with 146,380 (36% increase) and Solana is second with over 89,800 NFT buyers at 73% increase this past week. Cardano is third while BNB Chain ranks 7th but with a 74% spike in buyer participation.
NFT sales jumped 5% last week
At the same time, the global NFT sales volume in the past seven days indicates a 5.4% increase, with more than $244 million worth of NFTs traded in that time.
The most sales volume was on Ethereum at almost $200 million, while Solana, Cardano, Immutable X and Polygon complete the top five as of 24 January.
Among the top 10, the WAX blockchain saw the most increase in NFT sales with 82%. Meanwhile, Solana and BNB Chain recorded the largest decline over the past week as NFT sales on these blockchains fell 20% and 33% respectively.
NFTs sales stood at $623,439,866 for the month, data from CryptoSlam showed ( as of 24 January 2023), with total NFT transactions year-to-date at nearly 4.2 million (it was 4.7 million for December 2022).
While there has been a slight decline in the metric compared to the previous week, the statistics suggest the NFTs market has seen trading volume and buyer participation swing alongside movements in the broader crypto market.
