• Bitcoin (BTC, Tech/Adoption Grade “A-”) is up 3% today after surpassing the significant $50,000 price level.
• Ethereum (ETH, Tech/Adoption Grade “B”) is 5% higher, and it briefly topped $4,000 early in today’s trading.
• Bitcoin’s crypto market dominance fell 2.3% this week to 41.8% as altcoins look to continue breaking out.
Bitcoin has resumed its rally after retaking the symbolic $50,000 level and busting through overhead resistance. The King of Crypto has lagged the broad market recently, but it will need to log solid performance in order for the altcoins to continue making progress.
Still, it’s up 30% in the last month and showing no signs of slowing down just yet. Bitcoin is trading significantly above its 21-day moving average again, and it should look to ignite the breakout toward its all-time high near $65,000.
A pullback is not out of the question, but most technical signs point to a continuation towards all-time highs.
Here’s Bitcoin’s price in U.S. dollars via Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN):
Ethereum is also approaching a new all-time high after rising a torrid 52% in the last month. It briefly surpassed the important psychological barrier of $4,000 this morning before retreating to just under, and investors are closely eyeing its record high of $4,400.
That’s just 10% away!
Like most cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is also trading much higher than its 21-day moving average, and its chart shows more favorable recent price action than Bitcoin’s after its consolidation period ended in late-August.
But if you’re thinking of buying more ETH now or trading at all on the Ethereum network, keep an eye on those transaction fees. We’ve seen extremely high gas prices recently due to the emergence of NFT buying and selling, which is clogging its blockchain with significant network activity.
Here’s Ethereum’s price in U.S. dollars via Coinbase:
Index Roundup
Last week, after narrowly falling short of achieving a fifth consecutive week of positive price movement, the crypto market picked up right where it left off. Most cryptocurrencies saw encouraging price action, and all indexes finished higher.
The Weiss 50 Crypto Index (W50) gained 13.86%, highlighted by strong performance from the market leaders.
The Weiss 50 Ex-BTC Index (W50X) increased 12.05%, showing that Bitcoin managed to slightly outperform the broader market.
Breaking up this week’s performance by market capitalization, we see that the small-caps took a step back, the first week they’ve done so since the rally began..
The Weiss Large-Cap Crypto Index (WLC) climbed 13.60%, as the most established cryptocurrencies look to continue building toward all-time highs.
The mid-caps were the biggest winners, with the Weiss Mid-Cap Crypto Index (WMC) soaring 17.51%.
The Weiss Small-Cap Crypto Index (WSC) underperformed but still logged a promising increase of 7.38%.
After a consistent period of small-cap outperformance, their larger and mid-sized cohorts were able to close the gap.
Still, it’s a very good sign that all finished the week with gains. And it’s particularly healthy that the largest cryptocurrencies are leading the market higher.
Notable News, Notes and Tweets
• Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) will allow users to include their Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses in their profiles.
• Crypto and blockchain jobs have increased 118% in the last 10 months.
• The Dallas Mavericks NBA team will be offering gift card rewards for fans who spend over $125 in Dogecoin (DOGE, Tech/Adoption “C+”) on its site.
What’s Next
Crypto adoption is ramping up. Whether it’s new companies accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment or adding balance sheet exposure, or from retail investors diving into the NFT space, it’s clear that the industry continues to grow as a cultural mainstay.
With reckless fiscal and monetary policies by governments and central banks, individuals, corporations and asset managers are forced to look for viable alternatives. Crypto and blockchain technologies are an excellent solution. They’re pioneering a decentralized ecosystem that isn’t reliant on a few select institutions.
Last month’s jobs data was underwhelming, with non-farm payrolls increasing by just 235,000, far short of economists’ expectations of 733,000.
The Fed’s consistently pushed that it will not wind down its quantitative easing (QE) without reaching labor market targets, so it’s very likely that its printing presses will continue firing on all cylinders.
The crypto market has made substantial strides towards new highs, leaving May’s significant correction and the subsequent consolidation behind. With projects gathering more momentum and market sentiment improving, it shouldn’t be long before we see new all-time highs.
Best,
Sam
