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(Kitco News) - It was another day of sideways trading for the crypto market on Wednesday as Bitcoin held steady above $28,000. Meanwhile, gold rallied to its highest price in over a year amid rising U.S. debt levels, a weaker U.S. dollar, and investor uncertainty in the global economy.
U.S. equities traded lower after data revealed that private-sector job growth slowed in December, while a separate print showed a pullback in growth for U.S. service providers. At the close of markets, the S&P and Nasdaq were in the red, down 0.25% and 1.07%, respectively, while the Dow managed to finish up 0.24%.
Data from TradingView shows that Bitcoin’s (BTC) price experienced a 3.13% intraday swing, falling from a high of $28,834 in the early trading hours to a low of $27,935 before being bid back above the reliable support level of $28,200.
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
April Bitcoin futures continue to trade higher, according to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who noted that “The market is trading sideways at higher levels after hitting a contract high last week.”
Wyckoff said the current pause is not bearish, and Bitcoin bulls “still have the firm overall near-term technical advantage.” He added that “The price uptrend on the daily bar chart has also paused but remains in place.”
While Bitcoin is stuck in consolidation land, Ether (ETH) rallied to a daily high of $1,940, its highest price since August. The surge higher has been attributed to the fast-approaching Shanghai hard fork – set to take place on April 12 – which will enable staking withdrawals from the Beacon chain for the first time since its launch in December 2020.
ETH/USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
The move higher in Ether has excited many in the crypto community, leading some to pile into the second-ranked crypto before it makes a run at $2,000. This prompted market analyst Crypto Tony to offer the following word of advice for anyone starting to feel the urge to FOMO into the token.
Things are looking peachy currently, but once #Ethereum $ETH starts to tap into the major resistance levels around $2,000 - $2,000 .. That is when I would be thinking of taking profits and de-risking if we reject
— Crypto Tony (@CryptoTony__) April 5, 2023
So we can anticipate the next move ?
Altcoins trend higher
As is often the case when Bitcoin trades sideways, select altcoins saw a boost in prices on Wednesday as traders looked to position themselves ahead of a possible bull run.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
MIL.k (MLK) was the top gainer on the day, increasing by 59.54% to trade at $0.493, while Coin98 (C98) saw a gain of 19.97% and Bora (BORA) climbed 17.4%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.197 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 45.7%.
