(Kitco News) - Activity in the cryptocurrency market remains placid amid shakeups in the global power structure, as the announcement of Rishi Sunak as the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had little effect on crypto prices in trading on Monday.
While cryptos traded flat, the stock market saw another day of gains, further decoupling from the crypto market as traders anticipate a slowdown in interest rate hikes following the widely expected 75 bps that is scheduled for November.
As a result of the second straight bullish day for stocks, the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all closed higher on Monday, up 1.19%, 1.34% and 0.86%, respectively.
Data from TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) erased the gains it experienced the day prior as it fell from $19,675 to a daily low of $19,175 before bulls managed to bid it back above support at $19,350.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The lack of activity was touched on by Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who noted that there is “not much new to start the trading week” in his morning Bitcoin update.
According to Wyckoff, “the bears have the slight near-term technical advantage,” but warned that they “need to show more downside power soon to suggest a price downtrend can be restarted and sustained.”
As for what it would take for bulls to regain the upper hand, Michaël van de Poppe, CEO and founder of Eight Global, posted the following tweet noting that they first need to overcome the resistance at $19,600, which is where they were rejected in the attempt to push higher on Sunday.
Still have the same view on #Bitcoin here.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) October 24, 2022
Needs to crack resistance at $19.6K, and then we'll start the run towards $20.7K and potentially higher.
The Dollar and Yields showing some slight weakness today.
All eyes on PMI in a bit. pic.twitter.com/IXIH98znps
Sunak is a friend to crypto
On the topic of Britain’s new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak “could be the catalyst the UK needs to attract crypto and blockchain related talent,” according to Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst for the digital asset broker GlobalBlock.
During his time as Chancellor, Sunak was the one who proposed the Financial Services and Markets Bill and spearheaded plans to bring stablecoins under the purview of regulators in Britain, seeking to make them a recognized form of payment. He also proposed launching an official Royal Mint NFT collection in April this year, “as part of his proposal to make the U.K. a crypto-friendly tech hub,” Sotiriou said.
“Rishi Sunak could help to provide more clarity for crypto regulation in the U.K if he follows through with his aims from earlier this year,” Sotiriou explained. The analyst further explained that many perceive Sunak to be “significantly more competent when it comes to economic matters,” which has the potential to help decrease the amount of fear in the U.K. markets in the short term.
“Sunak has an extremely difficult few months ahead though, with significant economic problems for the U.K. and the Pound,” Sotiriou concluded.
Altcoins trade flat
The altcoin market, similar to Bitcoin, remained relatively flat in trading on Monday as the vast majority of tokens traded within 3% of Sunday’s prices.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Notable gainers on the day include a 15.07% climb for Klaytn (KLAY), an 11.22% gain for Symbol (XYM), and a 6.17% increase for Polygon (MATIC).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $931 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 39.8%.
