Good morning. Today, the cryptocurrency market is showing mixed signals with some tokens rising and others falling. Bitcoin, however, is showing resilience and is trading at $24,052, down 0.4% over the past 24 hours but well off its earlier week high over $25,000. This is encouraging news for investors who have seen the largest cryptocurrency surge about 40% since the start of the year amid an improved, overall economic backdrop.
Analysts remain cautiously optimistic about BTC’s prospects after watching it hold support first at $18,000 and than at higher levels in recent months, including its recent perch around $24,000. Julius de Kempenaer, senior technical analyst at research platform Stockcharts.com, said that as long as bitcoin remains around this level, it could break through 25k, signaling a move to the 30k area.
The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), a measure of the digital asset market’s performance, was down 0.2%, while stocks rose with the S&P 500, which has a technology heavy component gaining 0.5% to break a four-day losing streak and the tech-focused Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rising a few fractions of a percentage point.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims for the week ending Feb. 18 fell by 3,000 to 192,000 but were below the consensus estimate of 200,000. Strong jobs data has been thorny for the U.S. Federal Reserve as it tries to reduce inflation from 6.4% to a target rate of 2%. The ongoing angst about high prices has made risk-on investors hesitant.
On the crypto news front, venture capital powerhouses a16z led a $25 million Series A investment in Here Not There to build out Towns, a Web3 group chat protocol and app that lets online communities build blockchain-based gatherings in a fully decentralized way, and Pantera invested $10 million in Worldwide Webb, creator of a pixel art-based metaverse game.
But Federal law enforcement authorities added to charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced, former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, and NFT platform Dapper Labs said that it was laying off 20% of its employees less than four months after a 22% workforce cut.
Funding rates for bitcoin have been positive for the 10th consecutive day. Funding rates represent payments between holders of perpetual futures contracts. When the rate is positive, holders of long positions pay holders of short positions in order to remain on that side of the trade. When funding rates are negative, the opposite is the case, where shorts pay longs. In bitcoin’s case, funding rates have been positive every day since Jan 14, with the exception of a neutral reading on Feb 12. Investors holding long positions expect an asset’s value to increase, while those who are short an asset expect its value to decline. Persistently positive funding rates indicate that BTC traders currently view the asset favorably, and are willing to pay a fee to express their bullishness.
Stockcharts.com’s De Kempenaer noted that the “risk appetite of the investor is increasing again” and that “Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general could benefit on the back of that.” He continued, saying that buyers are coming in and willing to pay higher prices, while sellers are holding on longer and only want to sell at higher prices.
Coinbase has launched a Layer 2 blockchain base to provide an on-ramp for Ethereum, Solana and others, and the Optimism token is up 6.5% as Coinbase builds its layer 2 on the platform. Crypto regulatory initiatives show the SEC’s dominance among US regulators, according to a JPMorgan report. Crypto analytics firm Messari has cut 15% of its workforce as part of restructuring, and the SEC’s recent actions shut down centralization staking services, but not individual staking and decentralized staking services.
Today’s important events include the United States Core Personal Consumption Expenditures – Price Index (YoY/Jan), United States Personal Income (MoM/Jan), and Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (Feb).
In conclusion, the cryptocurrency market is showing mixed signals with some tokens rising and others falling, but Bitcoin is showing resilience. Analysts remain cautiously optimistic about BTC’s prospects, and funding rates indicate that BTC traders currently view the asset favorably. Stocks are rising, while the U.S. Federal Reserve is trying to reduce inflation. On the crypto news front, there are positive developments, but also layoffs and regulatory actions. Important events today include the United States Core Personal Consumption Expenditures – Price Index (YoY/Jan), United States Personal Income (MoM/Jan), and Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (Feb). All in all, the market is watching and waiting for more developments.
Cryptocurrency is a rapidly growing and evolving market, and investors need to stay informed and up to date on the latest news and developments. To do this, investors can use a variety of sources, such as Crypto News, which provides news about crypto and blockchain from various sources. By subscribing to Crypto News, investors can stay in the know and make informed decisions about their investments.
