(Kitco News) - Crypto proponents welcomed the sight of widespread green on Monday after a prolonged period of sideways trading left many wondering if the market would ever snap out of the crypto winter doldrums that it has been trapped in for several months.
The stock market, likewise, got the day off to a hot start as the tech sector helped push the major indices higher. But prices reversed course in the afternoon as the loss of momentum resulted in a negative close for the S&P and Dow, which closed down 0.08% and 0.34%, respectively, while the Nasdaq managed to hold onto a gain of 0.63%.
Data from TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) surged to a daily high of $17,389 in the afternoon on Monday before pulling back to support near $17,200 where bulls and bears now battle it out for control of the price action.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The move higher helped bulls “gain the upside technical momentum,” according to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, and they are “now working on a fledgling price uptrend on the daily bar chart.”
That being said, bulls need to remain vigilant and continue to push higher, Wyckoff said, as “stiff chart resistance lies just above the market now.”
For analysts at Eight Global, the current price action for Bitcoin signals that “there is still plenty of room to move up” since the Fair Value Gap (FVG), which “often acts as a magnet for the price,” is between $18,350 and $20,150.
“We can see two very clear zones on the chart, namely the demand zone around $16.9-17k and the supply zone of $17,350-17,550. These are therefore the areas we will keep an eye on for longs and shorts, but as always we will only take a position when we have the right confirmations.”
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
In the event that Bitcoin starts tending down, Eight Global identified the weekly support level of $12,500 “as a level that a huge number of investors will have their eyes on,” but suggested that “there is little chance of reaching these levels anytime soon.”
As for why now is not a good time to go all in on the recent positive moves, Eight Global founder Michaël van de Poppe posted the following tweet outlining the upcoming events of the week, which could lead to a spike in volatility in the crypto market.
Key events this week;
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) January 9, 2023
- Powell speaking on Tuesday.
- CPI U.S. on Thursday.
- U.S. consumer sentiment on Friday.
Will bring a ton of volatility.
Multiple altcoins gain more than 20%
The altcoin market followed Bitcoin’s lead higher on Monday, with all but a handful of tokens in the top 200 posting positive gains on the day.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Multiple projects saw gains exceeding twenty percent, including a 38.07% gain for Aptos (APT), a 25.96% gain for Zilliqa, a 24.64% increase in Nervos Network (CKB) and a 24.57% gain for Gala Games (GALA).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $850 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 39.1%.
