Markets
Bitcoin and Ethereum Post Double-Digit Weekly Gains Despite Slight Decline
The cryptocurrency market has seen a slight downturn today, with major coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum seeing modest declines.
However, the overall picture remains bullish as most major cryptocurrencies have seen significant gains over the past week.
Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at $63,800, down 1.2% on the day, according to CoinGecko data. Despite this small setback, Bitcoin is up about 11% over the past week.
Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is trading at $3,390, down 1.8% today but up about 10% over the past week.
Other notable performers in the top 10 include Solana (SOL), which is up 19% over the past seven days, and XRP, which is up roughly 17% over the same period.
The market’s resilience is particularly noteworthy in light of recent events that have exerted significant selling pressure.
Germany Liquidated Approximately 50,000 Bitcoins (Value Approximately $3 Billion) seized from a movie piracy site probably contributed to the Bitcoin Price dropping from $65,000 to $55,800 in early July.
Additionally, the defunct Mt. Gox exchange has begun repaying creditors with Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, potentially introducing greater supply on the market.
BRN analyst Valentin Fournier said that Bitcoin’s strong momentum from the previous weeks has been interrupted in the last three days. He wrote that technical indicators are showing a declining momentum (MACD) and a mean reversion of the RSI.
The moving average convergence divergence, or MACD, is a trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of a security’s price.
The RSI, or Relative Strength Index, is a momentum oscillator that measures the speed and variation of price movements.
“This slowdown in momentum could be influenced by the stock market, which suffered more significant losses during the week and showed less resilience than Bitcoin,” Fournier said in a note shared with Decipher.
Despite these challenges, many experts remain optimistic about the future of the cryptocurrency market.
Highlighting an interesting technical indicator, Julien Bittel, head of macro research at Global Macro Investor, wrote on Twitter that Bitcoin’s Bollinger Bands are “insanely tight” by historical standards.
Bollinger Bands are a volatility indicator consisting of a simple moving average and two standard deviation lines. Narrow bands, as noted above, often precede significant price movements in Bitcoin.
“Only two other months in history have we seen weekly Bollinger Bands this compressed: April 2016 and July 2023. During both previous episodes, Bitcoin prices increased significantly over the next twelve months,” he said.
Bittel suggests that a similar move this time could point to BTC value between $140,000 and $190,000.
The approval and launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year could also play a significant role in market dynamics.
“Investors investing in spot Bitcoin ETFs may be new entrants to the market who previously did not have direct access to spot Bitcoin and are using this market decline as an opportunity to increase exposure to Bitcoin,” second to a report from a Gemini analyst.
BRN’s Fournier added that Bitcoin is expected to continue accumulating in the $62,500 to $67,000 range until the launch of Ethereum ETFs, which will be a real test for the markets.
Volatility will likely generate profit opportunities over the next week, he added.
By Stacy Elliott.