(Kitco News) – The start of a long holiday weekend has seen subdued activity in the crypto market as the total trading volume has declined 22% from Thursday while most tokens in the top 200 trade within ±5% of yesterday’s prices.
Bitcoin (BTC) has thus far traded in a range between $69,055 and $70,936 as traders look content to let King Crypto consolidate for a while following the volatility witnessed over the past couple of weeks.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $69,340, a decrease of 2.15% on the 24-hour chart.
“This week witnessed a resurgence of bullish sentiment in the Bitcoin market, with a notable increase in perpetual open interest and funding rates following last week's correction,” said analysts at Ryze Labs. “Bitcoin’s open interest dipped to $10.22 billion last Friday but has since rebounded, nearing the previous all-time highs of $12.9 billion. Concurrently, funding rates have escalated, with long positions incurring costs around 30-40% APR.”
“Structurally, the gap between hedge funds (in purple) and asset managers (in red) continues to widen,” they said. “This divergence indicates that while asset managers continue to purchase Bitcoin futures, hedge funds are increasingly short-selling. In the current bullish climate, this dynamic hints at a potential short squeeze, which could propel Bitcoin’s next upward movement.”
Ryze Labs warned that “the market might be underestimating Chairman Powell’s dovish stance” following last week's FOMC meeting.
“He highlighted several critical points worth noting,” they said. “(1) The Federal Reserve prioritizes maintaining a robust economy and stable employment over comparing inflation; and (2) The Fed is cognizant of the impending debt supply and the depletion of the Reserve Repurchase Agreement (RRP) liquidity buffer, likely leading to a deceleration in Quantitative Tightening (QT) to avoid liquidity challenges.”
As the 2024 bull market unfolds, Ryze Labs highlighted some key indicators to watch out for.
The “total monthly trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXes) exceeded $240 billion” in March, which surpassed the previous all-time high of $234 billion recorded in November 2021, “a period that coincided with the peak of the last cycle,” they said. “This moment offers an opportunity to revisit key indicators investors might consider to discern potential market peaks.”
Ryze Labs said for the “market to ascend further, several conditions must be met: (1) A growing overall stablecoin supply indicates fresh capital entering the crypto markets, a vital sign of sustained market health; (2) Continued positive inflows into ETFs are crucial, despite a recent week of net outflows after an extended positive streak; and (3) While the Federal Reserve has not cut rates amidst high inflation, stability or a halt in rate increases is necessary.”
“A shift in any of these macro/institutional indicators could signal a significant turning point in the market,” they concluded. “Considering these factors, attention should be paid to Coinbase Smart Wallet and fintech applications like Robinhood as indicators of macro/institutional adoption.”
According to market analyst Moustache, the arrival of institutions may have initiated the biggest bull run since 2015 as the “Golden Moment-Indicator on the 2-month chart of $BTC has crossed bullish again after almost nine years.”
#Bitcoin
Did you know that the Golden Moment-Indicator on the 2-month chart of $BTC has crossed bullish again after almost 9 YEARS?
At the same time, we see a buy signal in the Supertrend, which has signalled a further uptrend in EVERY cycle so far.
We're going so much higher pic.twitter.com/1hSTSJhDUB— ???????ⓗ? ? (@el_crypto_prof) March 29, 2024
Altcoins end the week mixed
Friday saw a mixed performance in the altcoin market, with a majority of tokens recording losses.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Ravencoin (RVN) led the gainers with an increase of 43.8%, followed by a 20.3% gain for DeXe (DEXE), and a 14.1% increase for dogwifhat (WIF). 0x Protocol (ZRX) was the biggest loser, declining by 17.5%, while SPACE ID (ID) fell 12.2%, and Polymesh (POLYX) lost 10.2%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.62 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 52%.
