Crypto: Bearish consolidation continues

Market overview

The crypto market has gained 1.3% over the past 24 hours to $2.33T, rebounding from Thursday's local lows of $2.27T. The range of fluctuations continues to narrow, with a sequence of rising local lows. By contrast, the last two local highs were roughly at the same level of $2.40T. Trump Coin has rallied, gaining nearly 10% in 24 hours, with Solana also performing well (+3.4%). Dash and Toncoin are down 3.4% and 1.5% over the same period, at the other end of the spectrum among top coins.

Bitcoin has been gaining since the start of active trading in the US on Thursday, adding just over 3.5% during this time and bringing the price to $67.9K. However, this is only a recovery to the levels seen at the beginning of the week, so it is too early to talk about a confident rebound. A bearish pennant pattern is forming on the daily candlestick chart. It will be confirmed if the price declines below $65.7K and cancelled if it rises above $70K. Taking a step back, the current move appears to be part of a protracted consolidation in the $60-70K range, a critical zone from a historical point of view.

News background

Ethereum developers have presented an updated development plan for 2026. The Ethereum Foundation is focusing on scaling, improving the user experience and protecting the blockchain. The next major network update will be Glamsterdam, scheduled for the first half of 2026, followed by Hegota.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) intends to open round-the-clock trading in cryptocurrency futures and options on 29 May. The expansion of trading is still under review by regulators.

The non-profit organisation Aptos Foundation has announced a significant reform of its tokenomics to strengthen the deflation of the Aptos (APT) cryptocurrency. Among the key initiatives is the introduction of an emission limit of 2.1 billion APT (currently, there is no limit).

The pressure from altcoin sellers has reached a five-year high, according to CryptoQuant. There are simply no buyers for alternative cryptocurrencies.
On 19 February, following another recalculation, the difficulty of mining Bitcoin jumped by 14.73%, a record increase in five years. According to Cloverpool, the indicator rose to 144.40 T. Over the past 10 days, miners in the United States have sharply increased the capacity of equipment connected to mining after previously disconnecting it due to frosty weather.