The crypto market is still very dependent on Bitcoin – in most cases, altcoins follow the direction of movement of the first cryptocurrency. However, the further the development of the crypto industry goes, the less this dependence.
Bitcoin
From February 16 to February 24, the price of Bitcoin decreased by a little more than 2%. After BTC hit the $53,000 mark on February 20, a slight correction began and at its lows the price reached $50,500. Now it is about $51,000.
Source: tradingview.com
If Bitcoin has decreased in American currency over the past week, and is still quite far from reaching its historical maximum in dollars, then in other countries BTC has already reached it. Of course, for the most part these are either countries of the African continent or those where inflation is extremely high (Argentina, Turkey). The most notable in this regard is one of the strongest economies in the world – Japan.. This information was shared on social network X by a user under the pseudonym Balaji.
Another interesting news of the past week was the report of the European Central Bank (ECB). In it, the regulator once again expressed skepticism regarding Bitcoin. The ECB called the fundamentals of the first cryptocurrency nothing less than “fantastic conditions for a snake oil salesman”. The report itself is titled “Bitcoin ETF Approval—The Naked King’s New Clothes.” According to the ECB, Bitcoin remains inconvenient, slow and expensive. And of course, mining pollutes the environment. The report also notes that the latest increase in the value of BTC is speculative, and the cryptocurrency is often used in criminal schemes.
Naturally, crypto enthusiasts were not satisfied with this point of view. Most of them began to mock the ECB's report in X. For example, a user with the pseudonym Hsaka posted the previous ECB statement regarding Bitcoin. Since then, BTC has more than tripled. And Ryan Selkis simply said: “The euro will be dead in 4-5 years. Bitcoin will be alive and well as long as there are nodes that support the core Bitcoin client.”.
Despite the decline in recent days, BTC remains in bullish territory.. The price is above the 50-day moving average (in blue) and the RSI indicator is above 50. The nearest resistance level is $53,015, and the nearest support level is $50,519.
Source: tradingview.com
The index of fear and greed remained unchanged compared to February 16 – it is 72. This shows that greed still reigns supreme in Bitcoin..
Ethereum
The price of ether increased by 5.25% from February 16 to February 24. Moreover, on February 20 it reached $3,000, which has not happened since May 2022. However, later the price of the second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization adjusted slightly and now it is about $2,950.
Source: tradingview.com
The primary reason for this movement on the air continues to be demand from large players (whales). So, on February 22, one of them bought 16,160 ETH worth just under $47 million. In total, over the course of four days, he acquired 87,819 ETH worth $252.5 million. The total amount of ether in the possession of this investor is 112,996 ETH.
The situation around spot Ether ETFs also continues to evolve. A week ago it became known that Franklin Templeton Investments had submitted an application for such a product. And on February 23, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) filed Form 19b-4 in support of it. Thus, the site gave the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a detailed opinion on the Franklin Templeton Investments ETF and the impact it will have on the market. Such actions indicate that the approval of exchange-traded funds for ETH is becoming more and more realistic.
From a technical analysis point of view, there is a dominance of bulls in Ether. The price is above both the 50-day (in blue) and 200-day (in orange) moving averages. Thus, the cryptocurrency looks strong both in the medium and long term. Further growth can be expected after breaking through the resistance level – $3,036.4 – last week’s high.. Support level – $2,870.
Source: tradingview.com
Avalanche
From February 16 to February 24, Avalanche fell in price by 10.69%. Negative dynamics were observed throughout this period; only two sessions out of eight were in the black. The price could not stay above $40, and at the minimum it came close to $35.
Source: tradingview.com
Avalanche's downtrend was determined by two pieces of news. The first of these was the next unlocking of AVAX tokens on February 22. On this day, the supply immediately increased by 9.54 million. This caused a natural, from an economic point of view, decline. After all, as you know, an increase in supply with insufficient demand causes a decrease in value. The next such event is scheduled for May 22, when the next 9.54 million tokens will be unlocked.
Source: token.unlocks.app/avalanche-2
If the first news was more of a neutral economic nature, the second turned out to be clearly negative. On Friday, February 23, Avalanche experienced an outage that halted block production. Initially, a problem with a new wave of “inscriptions” was cited as the reason for the suspension of work. At that time, she only worked for one hour. This was stated by the co-founder of Avalanche’s parent company, Ava Labs, Kevin Sekniqi.
However, it later turned out that this was not the reason. An error was reported in the code related to mempool management. There was a problem with the labels, but it did not affect network performance.
According to technical analysis, it is time for the bears in Avalanche. The price has dropped below the 50-day moving average (in blue). The RSI indicator dropped below 50. The support level is the minimum of February 23 and 24 – $35.2, the nearest resistance level is $37.6.
Source: tradingview.com
Conclusion
Thus, over the past week, the dynamics of cryptocurrencies have been unclear. Bitcoin showed a weak correction, Avalanche collapsed due to a network failure, and Ethereum continued to grow due to the demand of large players and positive expectations from the approval of spot ETFs for ETH.
This material and the information contained herein do not constitute individual or other investment advice. The opinion of the editors may not coincide with the opinions of the author, analytical portals and experts.