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(Kitco News) - Financial markets ended the week, month, and quarter on a positive note as asset prices from cryptos to stocks closed the day higher, giving weary investors cause for hope amid a growing list of global economic concerns.
U.S. equities finished the first quarter of 2023 with the Nasdaq rising more than 15%, and the S&P gaining more than 6%. At the close of markets on Friday, the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq all finished in the green, rising 1.43%, 1.26%, and 1.74%, respectively.
Data provided by TradingView shows that after an early morning onslaught by Bitcoin (BTC) bears ran out of steam near $27,630, bulls reversed course and drove the top crypto to a daily high of $28,737 before some profit-taking led to a pullback and consolidation near support at $28,500.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff noted in his Friday BTC update that “April Bitcoin futures prices were a bit weaker in early U.S. trading Friday after hitting a contract high on Thursday.”
According to Wyckoff, “BC bulls have the solid overall near-term technical advantage amid a price uptrend in place on the daily bar chart. The trend is the bulls’ friend and more upside is likely.”
Preparing for a bull market
All across crypto Twitter, analysts are expressing more optimism that the bear market is in the rearview mirror, with many pointing to the potential for interesting times ahead for the crypto market.
A more reserved outlook was provided by Crypto Tony, who posted the following chart highlighting the need to flip a major resistance level into support before fully accepting the bullish narrative. He cautions that any significant jump in price could be short-lived if this level is not breached.
Monthly close tonight across the board. We have some decent closes, but not ultra bullish
— Crypto Tony (@CryptoTony__) March 31, 2023
We have bearish retests at the present time, and the excitement begins if we can reclaim these resistance zones into support
April / May going to be super interesting ?? pic.twitter.com/C62HqjqL5t
Former corporate banking analyst Caleb Franzen highlighted that Bitcoin is now leaving the accumulation zone it's been in for the past year, which means that the “bullish long-term probabilities are improving.”
#BTC is leaving another accumulation zone!
— Caleb Franzen (@CalebFranzen) March 31, 2023
Bitcoin's 24-month Williams%R Oscillator is set to close above the "oversold" threshold for March, which has marked an end to prior bear markets.
Bullish long-term probabilities are improving, so long as we stay above the lower-bound. pic.twitter.com/FXTlPXkxwy
And market analyst Rekt Capital noted that Bitcoin is closing out its best Q1 since 2020, which has typically signaled “multiple quarters of upside.”
#BTC is on the cusp of confirming its first Quarterly Bullish Engulfing Candle since early 2020
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) March 31, 2023
Historically, Quarterly Bullish Engulfing Candles have preceded multiple quarters of upside$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/Hyeew5HCy0
Altcoins close out the quarter strong
The altcoin market also finished March on a strong note, with the majority of tokens in the top 200 in the green on Friday and looking to extend their gains in the weeks and months ahead.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Solar (SXP) was the top performer on the day, increasing 38.44% to hit a high of $0.656, followed by a 21.1% gain for Blur (BLUR) and a 17.96% increase in the price of Holo (HOT).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.183 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 46.3%.
