Major coins traded mixed on Thursday late evening, as the market capitalization declined by 0.20% in the last 24 hours to $1.10 trillion, recorded at 8:30 p.m. EST.
| Cryptocurrency | Gains (+/-) | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | -0.48% | $24,049 |
| Ethereum | +0.97% | $1,657 |
| Dogecoin | -0.90% | $0.084 |
What Happened: Apex crypto Bitcoin BTC/USD was trading below $25,000 as investors continued to assess the Fed’s ongoing dialogue surrounding monetary policy and examine jobs data.
Ethereum ETH/USD was trading up nearly 1% but below $1,700. Dogecoin DOGE/USD was trading at $0.084, down 0.90% in the last 24 hours.
U.S. equities surged on Thursday, as investors showed support for the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes despite volatile trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.53% to end the day at 4,012.32, bouncing back from its four-day losing streak. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.72%, ending the session at 11,590.40.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims for the week ending Feb. 18 fell by 3,000 to 192,000, which is below the consensus estimate of 200,000. This strong jobs data has been a challenge for the Federal Reserve, as it looks to reduce inflation from 6.4% to its target rate of 2%.
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Top News: Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has just added over 213,000 Coinbase COIN shares worth about $13 million to its ARK Innovation (ARKK) and Next Generation (ARKW) exchange-traded funds.
Coinbase on Thursday launched Base, a layer 2 network built using Optimism’s OP Stack. The testnet of Base has already been started by the crypto exchange.
Spotify is taking its first foray into the world of Web3 with a new pilot involving “token-enabled playlists.” With this pioneering program, non-fungible token holders can now connect their wallets and enjoy curated music from around the world.
Analyst Notes: “While Wall Street gyrates over Fed rate hike expectation shifts, Bitcoin wavers around the $24,000 area. The next several months will be key for finding out the rest of the world embraces cryptos,” said Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANA, in a note seen by Benzinga.
The IMF released a statement on elements of effective policies for crypto assets. “No big surprises came from this 1,131-word paper, but it did outline what they are focusing on; protecting fiat currencies, excessive capital flow volatility, oversight, joint monitoring across regions, and financial stability protections,” Moya noted.
“Bitcoin appears stuck in a range right now and that might only change if we see risk aversion run wild on Wall Street,” he added.
Crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe said that Bitcoin dropped towards the lower part of the $23,300 resistance area. There has been a significant bounce from this area, indicating that further consolidation may be necessary before the continuation toward the $30,000 mark.
Santiment’s data suggests the amount of Bitcoin held by big players (the so-called ‘Shark and Whale’ addresses) are staying steady in the $23,000-$25,000 range. However, the data also shows that the number of Bitcoin addresses with balances between 1,000 and 10,000 have been increasing in the past 3 months, along with the 10-100 range and 100-1000 range.
Analyst Kaelo said BTC Chart looks primed for the next leg up “sooner than you think.”
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