Crypto prices saw a bloodbath early Friday morning as major coins plunged into red across the board. Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s oldest crypto, slipped 3.38% below $22,000 in 24 hours. Other popular altcoins including Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC) suffered heavy losses. Render Token (RNDR) saw the biggest loss of all, falling by more than 13 per cent in 24 hours. Rocket Pool (RPL) continued as the top gainer for the second straight day, up more than 7 per cent in 24 hours. The global crypto market cap at the time of writing was $1.02 trillion, down 3.48% in 24 hours.
Bitcoin stayed lower at the Feb 9th Wall Street open as a sweep of local lows increased bets of a more serious comedown. The BTC-USD pair had fallen to $22,378 earlier in the day, marking its lowest since Jan. 25 and reinforcement from $22,400 is a key area to watch. The recent price action also saw Bitcoin lose around $10 billion in market cap, which fell from $448 billion on Wednesday to $437.9 billion at the time of writing. Today’s market crash follows reports from the US Securities and Exchange Commission investigating popular crypto exchange Kraken for alleged securities laws violations. Bitcoin is immune to most macroeconomic news except inflation. This is in contrast to other traditional assets such as gold, silver, S&P 500 stocks and currencies (exchange rates) which are sensitive to macroeconomic news. The asset, which surged 40% in January, sparked the largest institutional inflows since June 2022, data shows. The report showed that $117 million worth went into crypto during the last week of the month.
Ether rebounded from the 20-day EMA ($1,600) on Feb. 7. The bulls tried to consolidate their position by pushing the price above the $1680 resistance on Feb 8 but failed to sustain the breakout. This shows that the bears are active near the $1680 resistance. Sellers will attempt to sink the pair below the 20-day EMA. If they succeed, the ETH/USDT pair could drop to $1,500. Vendors need to figure out this support to take control.
Conversely, if the price surges and scales above $1700, the pair could signal the start of the next leg of the uptrend. There is a minor resistance at $1,800 but the potential for a rally to $2,000 increases if the bulls do not allow the price to dip back below $1,680.
On the macro front, US stocks edged higher at the open, while the US Dollar Index (DXY) tumbled during the day, falling back below the 103 level. Meanwhile, US macro data for the day had little impact on crypto markets. This came in the form of jobless claims, which came close to year-highs at 196k and beat expectations by 6k. The argued “hot” earnings analysis was expected from the Federal Reserve. The weaker employment data theoretically reinforces the notion that the tight economic conditions are working and therefore a trend reversal may be imminent. Last week’s Blockbuster jobs data showed the lowest US unemployment since the late 1960s. Immediately prior to the publication of the report, the composition of the BTC/USD order book on Binance showed increasing resistance at $22,800.
Technical Outlook:
Bitcoin:
BITCOIN after giving a breakout above the range ($16,000 to $17,500) rallied up to $24,255. The bulls, however, failed to push the prices above $25,211 (Previous Top, High of August 15) and started consolidating in a ‘Rising Channel’ pattern. The asset faced strong resistance and witnessed some profit bookings at higher levels. BTC broke the lower uptrend line of the rising channel yesterday and made the weekly low of $21,688. The asset has a strong support zone from $21,500 to $20,500. If it holds the support then we can expect the bulls to resume the up-move whereas a break below the support will lead to further downfall.
ETH:
ETH after giving a breakout above the long-held resistance of $1,250 surged up to $1,714.6. The asset faced a strong resistance of around $1,700 (Horizontal Trendline) and witnessed some profit booking and made the weekly low of $1,525. The asset has been taking good support at $1,500 (200 Day Moving Average) in the past. If it holds and sustains above the support, then we can expect some move whereas a break below this level will lead to further downfall.
BNB:
BNB after making the low of $220 started moving in an uptrend and rallied up to $337.8. The asset faced strong resistance at $336 (Horizontal Trendline) and witnessed a correction and the prices made the weekly low of $302. BNB has strong support at $300 (Horizontal Trendline). If it breaks the support then it may further drop to the $280 level. To witness a rally BNB needs to break, close and sustain above $336.
Weekly Snapshot:
| USD ($) | 02 Feb 23 | 09 Feb 23 | Previous Week | Current Week | |||
| Close | Close | % Change | High | Low | High | Low | |
| BTC | $23,474 | $21,819 | -7.05% | $24,167 | $22,654 | $23,678 | $21,754 |
| ETH | $1,643 | $1,546 | -5.90% | $1,704 | $1,546 | $1,704 | $1,324 |
| BNB | $323.35 | $305.96 | -5.38% | $316.71 | $300.32 | $337.32 | $303.02 |
| crypto | 1w – % Vol. Change (Global) |
| BitCoin (BTC) | -2.88% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | -5.16% |
| Binance Coin (BNB) | 1.76% |
| Resistance 2 | $28,500 | $2,000 | $1.50 | $380 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resistance 1 | $25,000 | $1,715 | $1.30 | $336 |
| USD | BTC | ETH | Matic | BNB |
| Support 1 | $21,500 | $1,500 | $1.05 | $300 |
| Support 2 | $17,500 | $1,250 | $0.75 | $255 |
Market Updates
- According to data from DefiLlama, Ethereum staking service Rocket Pool reached $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Feb. 9.
- Paxos Trust Company — the New York-based stablecoin issuer behind Binance USD (BUSD) and Paxos Dollar (USDP) — is reportedly being investigated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
- The American state of Mississippi is one step closer to protecting the rights of crypto miners after the state Senate passed the Mississippi Digital Asset Mining Act on Feb. 8.
- A crypto exchange project initially proposed by 3AC and Coinflex has now launched an official website and waitlist as of Feb. 9. It is called “Open Exchange (OPNX)”. The new project claims that it will be “the world’s first public marketplace” for crypto claims trading and derivatives.
