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(Kitco News) - The cryptocurrency market remained in a holding pattern to close out the work week as investors await next week's policy decision from the Federal Reserve, with most analysts anticipating a 25 bps hike.
Stocks got off to a hot start in trading on Friday, but the momentum faded as the day progressed, ultimately resulting in a mixed finish for the major indices. The S&P and Dow closed the day flat while the Nasdaq finished down 0.22%.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade near support at $30,000, where bulls and bears appear evenly matched in strength, resulting in stagnant price action.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
That could soon change, however, as Kitco senior analyst Jim Wyckoff warned that “bulls are fading a bit late this week,” before noting they “still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage but need to show fresh power soon to keep their chart edge.”
Crypto analysts on Twitter had little to say about the price action for Bitcoin as it has been trading within the same range for more than a month now.
MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe posted the following chart outlining the path he sees Bitcoin taking if it fails to reclaim $30,300.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Twitter
Poppe followed up with the following tweet, which encapsulates the views of many analysts and traders in the crypto market.
Extremely dead environment on the markets.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) July 21, 2023
Whether or not #Bitcoin breaks south, we'll probably have a case of a pre-move for FOMC. #Crypto markets tend to be feared, so I suspect that a downwards move is relatively normal.
Buy the dip it is.
Altcoin consolidation continues
It was a mixed trading day for the altcoin market with roughly two-thirds of the tokens in the top 200 recording slight gains.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Maker (MKR) was the biggest gainer, increasing 11.9% to trade at $1,143, followed by a 9.43% gain for NYM (NYM) and an 8.11% increase for Synthetix (SNX). The only token to lose more than 5% was GMX (GMX), which declined 6.21%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.2 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 48.3%.
