5 Things to Know in Crypto Today: BTC Breaks Above 50DMA, Eyes $24K as ETH Rally Slows

Key Points

• Bitcoin surged above its 50DMA on Wednesday and is now eyeing a test of $24,000 amid upbeat macro sentiment.
• Ethereum’s rally has slowed but bulls still target $1,700 amid “Merge” optimism.
• Cardano is an outperformer amid apparent optimism about its upcoming Vasil hardfork upgrade.

Bitcoin Surges Above 50DMA, Eyes $24,000 Mark

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization Bitcoin surged above its 50-Day Moving Average just under $23,000 on Wednesday, before rallying to as high as the $23,800 level, below which it is now consolidating. At current levels, Bitcoin is up a further 1.5% on the day, taking its gains this week to over 14% and taking its market cap back above $450 billion.

Technicians are targetting a near-term test of the $25,400 May low. In a sign that the cryptocurrency market bottom may be in, at least for now, alternative.me’s Bitcoin “Fear and Greed” Index rose back to 30, lifting it to a state of “Fear” from “Extreme Fear” for the first time in 73 days.

Analysts cited a rally in global equity markets driven by upbeat US earnings and an easing of fears about the energy crisis in Europe, with Russia reportedly set to restart gas flows to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Thursday, as boosting crypto risk appetite. Total cryptocurrency market capitalization was last around $1.05 trillion and eyeing a test of the May low around $1.082 trillion.

Ethereum’s Progress to $1,700 Slows as EthCC Kicks Off

Ethereum has been consolidating in the $1,500s over the past day or so, with its bullish momentum since breaking above its 50DMA in the low-$1,300s back on Monday having waned somewhat. Its consolidation comes just as the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) kicked off in Paris on Tuesday. There will be more than 250 speakers, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Thursday.

Analysts continue to cite optimism about continued progress towards Ethereum’s “Merge”, which senior developers have tentatively penciled in for September, as supportive for ETH. The Merge will see Ethereum’s blockchain shift from an energy-intensive “Proof-of-Work” consensus mechanism to “Proof-of-Stake”. Bulls continue to target a near-term test of resistance around $1,700 (the May and mid-2021 lows).

Cardano Surges Amid Droad Altcoin Rally

Amid the broadly upbeat mood in cryptocurrency markets so far this week, Cardano’s ADA token has been a strong performer, and this is again the case on Wednesday. Where some of its major altcoin rivals like Ripple, Binance Coin, Solana, Dogecoin, Polkadot and Polygon are up 3-7% in the last 24 hours, Cardano’s ADA is up over 10% over the same time period, according to CoinMarketCap.

ADA/USD was last up nearly 6% alone on Wednesday, having surged into the $0.54s where it is testing a supported-turned-resistance area from June. At current levels, the pair is up nearly 22% this week, having broken above a downtrend from mid-June and its 21DMA (at $0.462) on Monday and then its 50DMA (at $0.497) on Tuesday. A break above current levels would open the door to a move back to late-May highs in the $0.69 area.

Analysts put Cardano’s outperformance down to optimism about its upcoming Vasil hardfork upgrade scheduled for later this month that should significantly improve the blockchain’s speed and scalability.

Bitcoin Reaching Peak HOLDer Saturation Could Signal Market Bottom

“Against a backdrop of extremely challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil, bitcoin is reaching peak investor saturation by high conviction HODLers, and it is becoming quite plausible that a genuine bottom formation could be underway,” Glassnode said in a note on Tuesday. Glassnode pointed to potential signs of seller exhaustion, such as when realized losses on Bitcoin sales jumped to a record high of $36 billion over 30 days on 18 June.

The on-chain data analytics firm also cited a similar metric as cited by Grayscale earlier in the week. The percentage of the USD wealth stored in Bitcoin that hasn’t moved in the last three months recently 80%, a level that has historically signaled a bear market bottom forming process. However, Grayscale said earlier this week that this bottom formation could take up to 250 days.

SEC Wants More Resources to Regulate Crypto

In a hearing before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets on Tuesday, the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked Congress for more resources to enforce regulation on crypto firms. SEC Enforcement Head Gurbir Grewal told US lawmakers that the number of new enforcement actions being taken against crypto firms is straining its Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit division, even though it expanded as recently as May (from 30 to 50 employees).