The effect of the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs turned out to be long-term. It took about a month before it started showing up. Bitcoin surpassed $50,000 for the first time in more than two years, altcoins are also in the black.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin increased about 10% from February 9 to February 16. The first cryptocurrency was close to the $53,000 mark, but has not yet been able to overcome the milestone. Bitcoin remains about 25% away from its all-time high of $69,000 from November 2021.
Source: tradingview.com
One of the main reasons for the rapid growth of the largest cryptocurrency by capitalization was the influx of large capital into spot exchange-traded funds on BTC. Since February 8, 2024, the average daily volume of inflows into these ETFs has exceeded $500 million. And on Tuesday, February 13, the figure completely exceeded the $630 million mark.
Another reason for the rapid rise of BTC was the high demand from American investors.. There are two confirmations of this. First: the growth of the premium index of the largest local crypto exchange Coinbase to 0.12. Coinbase Premium Index shows the difference in BTC price between Coinbase and the world's largest exchange Binance. The index has now reached its highest level since May 2023. According to CryptoQuant analysts, this is direct confirmation that it is American investors who are exerting buying pressure.. The second confirmation was noted by the founder of 10x Research, Markus Thielen: the largest share of Bitcoin growth occurs during trading hours in the United States:
“Over the past 30 days, BTC has gained 17%, 11% of this 17% occurred in the US trading session.”.
From a technical analysis perspective, Bitcoin is in bullish territory. By and large, the next target should be the all-time high of $69,000. At the same time, indicators provide multidirectional information. The fact that the price is above the 50-week moving average (in blue) is a bullish factor. However, the RSI indicator has entered the overbought zone, which can be interpreted as a negative signal. However, it is worth remembering: in a bull market, it often gives false information. The support level is $49,048.
Source: tradingview.com
The fear and greed index has not changed since last week. It still equals 72. This demonstrates the prevalence of greed over fear among Bitcoin investors.
Ethereum
In the period from February 9 to February 16, the airwaves increased by more than 14%. The second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization is again trading above $2,800, which is also the highest since May 2022. Of the seven trading sessions, only one, on Tuesday, February 13, turned out to be negative.
Source: tradingview.com
One of the reasons for the rise in price of ether is the continued accumulation of the asset by major players (whales). According to the Lookonchain platform, the growth of the second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization since February 1 was about 24%, which was accompanied by the withdrawal of 69,500 ETH by one holder worth about $179 million from four crypto exchanges: Binance, Bybit, OKX and Bitfinex. Interestingly, the same character who had previously been actively buying WBTC tokens decided to exchange 425 of these coins (about $22 million) for 7,918 ETH. Obviously, the investor believes that ether will not stop at current levels and will continue to rise.
Ethereum co-founder Jeffrey Wilcke sold 14,300 ETH worth about $38 million through the Kraken exchange. Such actions are most likely in the nature of diversification. Wilke himself openly stated his desire to invest in alternative projects that would require a lot of capital. The explanation seems quite plausible: even after the massive sale, he still had 136,00 ETH in his hands, worth about $390 million.
The situation with spot Ethereum ETFs continues to develop. No, they have not yet received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But more and more companies are applying for such funds. On Monday, February 12, Franklin Templeton Investments, whose core business is asset management, became the latest entity to file an application for a spot Ethereum ETF.
From the point of view of technical analysis, the situation belongs to the bulls. The price is well above the 50-week (blue) and 200-week (yellow) moving averages that formed the golden cross in December 2023 (a strong buy signal). Last week, the January high of the year of $2,717.5 was overcome, which was a resistance level, and now has become support. The road is now open to the next resistance level at $3,600.
Source: tradingview.com
Avalanche
Avalanche gained a little less than 10% in a week. The cryptocurrency is again trading above $40, which has not happened since January 11, 2024. Judging solely by trading sessions, we can come to the conclusion that the bulls and bears were on equal terms: four sessions of growth versus three sessions of decline. However, the indicators of the former turned out to be much more significant.
Source: tradingview.com
The Avalanche ecosystem continues to evolve. Ava Labs President John Wu said on the Thinking Crypto podcast that the number of addresses on the network has grown by 100% over the year.. He also emphasized Avalanche's expansion into subnetworks.. At the beginning of 2024, the platform has 20 of them, but plans to introduce another 80 in 12 months.
On February 13, Durango was updated in one of the subnets – Fiji. It is designed to provide cross-network communication without trusting third parties, as well as significantly increase scalability.
Key to the update will be the activation of the Avalanche Warp Machine (AWM) feature, which should enable communication between subnets and allow developers to introduce free circulation of protocols between any two of them.
According to technical analysis, Avalanche is in a rising trend. This is confirmed by indicators: the price is above the 50-day moving average (marked in blue), and the RSI is above 50. The nearest resistance level will be the December 2023 high at $50, the support level will be $37.5.
Source: tradingview.com
Conclusion
Thus, the bullish trend in the market continues. Bitcoin confidently surpassed $50,000, and Ethereum $2,800. Avalanche's growth is accompanied by network development, which is reflected in the deployment of subnets and updates.
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.