(Kitco News) – Cryptocurrency prices trended higher on Friday afternoon after the day got off to a rough start in the wake of Thursday’s approval of the first spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S., which led to a spike in volatility in the market.
“In the past 24 hours, BTC and ETH prices have experienced declines, even with several ETH ETFs gaining approval to list in the U.S.,” noted analysts at Secure Digital Markets in their morning update. “This mirrors the previous situation with BTC, where prices dropped 20% following ETF approvals.”
“BTC hit a low of 66,400, approaching our key support level of 65,000, before rebounding after the stock market opened,” the analysts said. “Notably, ETH futures liquidations surged to nearly $150 million, with $100 million in long positions, which is twice the amount of BTC liquidations—a rare occurrence.”
After bottoming out at $66,400, Bitcoin clawed its way higher throughout the trading day to hit a high of $69,285 in the afternoon.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
At the time of writing, King Crypto trades at $69,018, an increase of 32.1% on the 24-hour chart.
“Stock futures edged higher after the Dow Jones Industrial Average endured its worst session in over a year,” Secure Digital Markets noted. The major indices all opened the day higher, and the S&P and Nasdaq managed to keep the positive momentum into the close while the Dow sank as the end of trading approached.
When it was all said and done, the S&P and Nasdaq finished up 0.70% and 1.10%, respectively, while the Dow was flat.
Further consolidation is expected
According to market analyst Caleb Franzen, if Bitcoin can break above $69,500, there’s a strong chance that it could climb above $72,000 in the short term.
If #Bitcoin breaks above this short-term structure (1hr candles), then the assumption is that it will make new short-term highs above $72k. pic.twitter.com/5LlCs6yWJi
— Caleb Franzen (@CalebFranzen) May 24, 2024
However, multiple analysts have warned that further consolidation is expected as there is a strong level of resistance at $71,500.
“Since the Bitcoin Post-Halving "Danger Zone" ended, Bitcoin broke out to $71500,” said market analyst Rekt Capital. “However, ~$71500 is where the Range High resistance of the Macro Re-Accumulation Range is and this is where Bitcoin rejected from.”
“The consolidation continues and history suggests it will continue for several more weeks between $60000 and $70000,” he concluded.
MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe also warned about the potential for a pullback to the low $60k region but said it presents a good opportunity for dollar cost averaging (DCA).
#Bitcoin is consolidating, and it's within the range.
Probably that consolidation will be taking place for a longer period and I suspect we might see $61-63K even.
Rotation from Bitcoin to Ethereum causing a longer sideways period.
It's fine. Simply DCA. pic.twitter.com/7hb77dNEKx— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) May 24, 2024
Long term, market analyst Braver Crypto said he maintains his stance that Bitcoin will peak in a range between $180,000 and $210,000 this cycle.
This aligns with the prediction made by Geoff Kendrick, Head of EM FX and Crypto Research at Standard Chartered, who said in a recent note that Bitcoin could rise to $150,000 by the end of 2024 and reach $200,000 in 2025.
Altcoins finish the week strong
Altcoins recovered from early losses to record gains in the afternoon, with all but 30 tokens in the top 200 trending into the green to end the work week.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Ondo (ONDO) led the pack with a gain of 19.2%, followed by a 17.6% increase for Core (CORE), and a 13.2% climb for Zcash. Metis recorded the biggest loss, falling 4.2%, while Illuvium (ILV) declined by 3.7%, and Bonk (BONK) lost 2.4%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.56 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 53.2%.
