The cryptocurrency market got off to a strong start this week, with token prices climbing higher on Monday and Bitcoin (BTC) regaining support at $43,000 as the flows for the recently listed spot BTC ETFs begin to normalize.
Stocks bounced back from early pressure to finish higher by the close of markets as investors prepare for this week’s interest rate policy decision from the Fed, which will be released on Wednesday. The CME FedWatch Tool shows the market only gives a 2.1% chance that rates could be lowered this week, and expectations of a rate cut in March have declined to 47.6%.
The US jobs report for December is also scheduled to be released on Friday, which will give better insight into whether the Fed has managed to get the “soft landing” they were aiming for.
At the closing bell, the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq recorded gains of 0.76%, 0.59%, and 1.12%, respectively.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin dipped to a low of $41,785 near midday, but then reversed course and climbed back above support at $43,000, where bulls look to gather reinforcements and push higher. At the time of writing, BTC trades at $43,240, an increase of 3.33% on the 24-hour chart.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
Macroeconomist and crypto analyst Henrik Zeberg tweeted that “The greatest #Crypto rally ever is right ahead of us,” and suggested that “Everybody will become screamingly bullish. Euphoria (and Lambo boys) will be back.”
Speaking with WTFinance, Zeberg elaborated on this outlook. “The developments we’ve seen for the last couple of months here… We should see that continue into 2024,” he said.
“The stock market and the crypto markets should keep moving up higher. Bitcoin should reach $100,000 to $150,000. We should also see the S&P 500 reach 6,100 which has been my target since a year and a half ago,” Zeberg said. “All these things are still playing out. So to me, there are no changes, this is the blow-off top.”
“This is the business cycle that is coming to an end,” he added. “It was not at an end a year ago, which was very, very clear to me, and now we are getting closer to that, and that’s why I expect it’ll be something of a whipsaw year because when we get to the middle of this year, I think we will see a change from this very bullish environment to the outright opposite, and I think we’re going to see a crash into the last part of the year.”
But technical analyst CryptoCon warned that a pullback to $30,000 is needed before the bull market can resume.
“No #Bitcoin cycle mid-top has ever been made without a revisit to the Monthly Least Square Moving Average,” CryptoCon said. “The price of this MA: $30,358.”
LSMA monthly support. Source: X
“This number is increasing steadily, but price has come nowhere close to the always-tested support,” he said. “This, and many other long-term data observations continue to line up in this area. In a rare example, even 2019 tested this moving average as support (without the black swan) which has usually broken below healthy supports.”
“Many have been quick to say the low is in, but not enough data supports that,” CryptoCon concluded. “My estimate remains a move to the low 30k region by Feb or March.”
Veteran trader Peter Brandt warned that Bitcoin is likely to see choppy and volatile price action for the foreseeable future as it consolidates following the recent move higher.
“The old ‘Hump with a Slump then a Pump and a Dump’ is back – and this is the price behavior that separates Chumps from their money,” he tweeted. “Study past major bull runs in Bitcoin $BTC and you will discover they were replete with HSPDs.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: X
“The Chumps FOMO buy the Pump only to puke out their purchases with the Dump. It is the Hump...Slump...Pump...Dump that keeps a bull trend healthy,” he said. “Let's see if HSPD works its magic once again.”
Altcoins climb higher
It was a green day for the altcoin market, with only a dozen tokens in the top 200 recording losses, and only six seeing a decline of more than 2%.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
API3 led the field with an increase of 17.8%, followed by gains of 17.2% for Huobi Token (HT) and 15% for Sui (SUI). Meme token dogwifhat (WIF) was the biggest loser with a decline of 8.3%, while Ribbon Finance (RBN) fell 6.5%, and Akash Network (AKT) decreased by 5.1%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.66 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 51%.
