The crypto market is in no hurry to gain ground

Market overview

The crypto market capitalisation has fallen by 0.6% over the past 24 hours to $2.35 trillion. The market continues to hover around its 50-day moving average, reflecting a fierce battle for the medium-term trend. Top coins are predominantly down following renewed caution in traditional financial markets. The day’s leaders are Zcash (+3.1%), Filecoin (+0.9%) and Basic Attention Token (+0.6%). Among the underperformers are Avalanche (−9.7%), Algorand (−8.6%) and Ethereum Classic (−5.5%).

Bitcoin briefly exceeded $70K on Monday but failed to hold the level, retreating to $68.6K by Tuesday morning. This represents further fluctuations within the corrective rebound pattern in which the leading cryptocurrency has been trading for the past two months. The latest price action serves as a stark reminder of the market’s current volatility and how difficult it is to shift sentiment.

Solana is trading below $80, remaining near its lows since the start of the month and at the lower boundary of its trading range since early February. The coin has not traded consistently below this level since late 2023, and its price is now below the 50- and 200-week moving averages, which further point to a long-term bear market.

News background

The rise in negative comments about Bitcoin on social media has reached a five-week high. This may indicate the likelihood of a trend reversal, according to Santiment.

Only a sustained move above $75K in Bitcoin will signal a recovery in structural demand and the end of the downtrend. Otherwise, BTC risks plummeting to $10K, according to Mike McGlone, senior strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.

Bitcoin and dollar-pegged stablecoins are in a ‘symbiosis’ that mutually reinforces each other amid the growing adoption of crypto assets. This contradicts the widespread view that BTC will undermine the dollar, the Bitcoin Policy Institute notes.

According to CoinDesk, the US financial firm Charles Schwab plans to launch trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum in the second quarter. Initially, clients will not be able to transfer cryptocurrency to external wallets.

Strategy purchased a further 4,871 BTC ($329.9 million) last week at an average price of $67,700 per coin, following a week-long pause. Strategy now holds 766,970 BTC, purchased for $58 billion at an average price of $75,600 per Bitcoin.

BitMine acquired a further 71,252 ETH for $152 million over the past week. The company’s reserves have reached 4.8 million ETH, which is almost 4% of the Ethereum supply.