Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies were little changed on Monday after digital assets climbed to two-week highs over the weekend. While sentiment has improved, prices look vulnerable at these levels ahead of what could be a volatile week.
The price of Bitcoin has fallen less than 1% over the past 24 hours to $42,250—a two-week high—having consolidated above the psychologically key $40,000 level last Friday and marching higher still over the weekend. But the largest crypto remains far off its recent peak above $48,000, the highest level since early 2022, which was reached amid the trading frenzy around the approval of U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
“Bitcoin has stabilized near $42,000 over the past three days. The 50-day moving average at $42,800 has acted as local resistance for short-term gains,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at broker FxPro. “This curve changed direction from rising to falling last week, which looks to be an additional short-term negative factor.”
While sentiment has improved—the Crypto Fear and Greed Index had moved to 55 by Monday, from levels under 50 last week, with a reading above 50 marking greed or bullish sentiment—Bitcoin may look vulnerable at these levels.
“We assume that the current calm is a local trap for bulls, and the decline will continue after some pause,” said Kuptsikevich. “The trigger for the decline may be volatility in equities ahead of [corporate earnings], the results of the Fed meeting and the employment report.”
Indeed, Bitcoin faces major non-crypto catalysts in the days ahead which could move digital assets as much as the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500.
Catalysts include quarterly results from major tech companies—including
Alphabet,
Microsoft,
Amazon,
and
Apple
—as well as the latest Federal Reserve monetary policy decision and the U.S. jobs report.
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
—the second-largest crypto—was down less than 1% to $2,270. Smaller tokens, or altcoins, also were lower, with
Cardano
and
Polygon
each down 2%. Memecoins were more mixed, with
Dogecoin
climbing 1% but
Shiba Inu
shedding 1%.
Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
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