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(Kitco News) – The cryptocurrency market is firing on all cylinders Wednesday as a flurry of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund filings have reignited institutional interest in digital assets and propelled the top crypto back above $30,000.
It was the opposite story for the equities market, though as hawkish comments made by Fed Chair Jerome Powell to Congres indicated that there could be more rate hikes this year, which put pressure on stocks. At the close of markets, the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq were all in the red, down 0.52%, 0.30%, and 1.21%, respectively.
Powell’s comments to the House Financial Services Committee also included a discussion on cryptocurrencies, with the Fed Chair noting that the central bank’s staff has been in talks with lawmakers from both parties on the crypto legislation members of the committee have been working on. Crypto prices received an extra boost Wednesday after Powell said the industry “appears to have some staying power.”
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin extended the upward trend that started near midday on Tuesday, hitting a high of $30,835 on Wednesday before pulling back to support at $30,000. Bulls are now taking aim at the resistance level of $31,100, which was established when BTC hit its 2023 high of $31,165 on April 14.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
The rally for Bitcoin led to July Bitcoin futures prices trading sharply higher, according to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who noted that futures prices “hit a six-week high in early U.S. trading Wednesday.”
Bitcoin futures 1-day chart. Source: Kitco
“The bulls have gained solid strength recently and now have the overall near-term technical advantage as a price downtrend on the daily bar chart has been negated,” Wyckoff said. “Bulls have momentum and are looking for still more on the upside.”
According to Markus Thielen, Head of Research at Matrixport, “Since early January, Bitcoin has been trading above its 200-day moving average, a level that market participants generally use to judge if an asset is in a bull (above) or bear market (below). In March (US banking crisis), Bitcoin traded back to this 200-day level but successfully rejected it. We were still in a bull market.”
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
“Bitcoin has rallied to 25k, only to retrace back by -20% to 20k, then rally by +50% to 30k, only to retrace back to 25k. Bitcoin is making ‘higher-lows’ as the technical analyst would say,” he wrote.
Based on its price history and current trajectory, Thielen said, “If the pattern continues, Bitcoin will now rally to 35k only to retrace then back to 30k and then attempt 40k.”
MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe sees a similar outlooking moving forward, with the possibility of a BTC correction to $28,000 before its price starts to climb higher.
What I’m expecting for #Bitcoin?
I’m expecting to see consolidation relatively soon.
I think we’ll be sweeping $30K, sweep the highs and calm down.
Not expecting a massive correction, probably $28K the lowest, and then, until the new acceleration starts -> #Altcoins pace up. pic.twitter.com/tnIfLo0pQW
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) June 21, 2023
Altcoins surge higher
The rally for BTC was a boon for the altcoin market as all but three tokens in the top 200 were in the green on Wednesday, with a total of 18 projects seeing double-digit gains.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Meme coin Pepe (PEPE) experienced the biggest gain, surging 45.4% to trade at 0.000001415, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) increased by 23.9% and Conflux (CFX) rose by 18.9%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.17 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 50%.
