Crypto Market Up By 2%; Bitcoin Crosses $40,000

The global crypto market continued to advance forward by another 2.1 per cent to stand at $1.66 trillion aided by renewed Bitcoin (BTC) momentum in the last 24 hours. Traders looked to ride the momentum as trade volumes rose by a considerable 22 per cent. 

After retesting the support level at $37,400, the bulls stepped in to register a 10 per cent rally sending BTC up to $41,300 post midnight. However, the exuberance was contained soon after. BTC retraced some of its gains to close at $40,300, up 2.5 per cent as of 9 am IST. Its support levels are forming at $38,400 and $35,900. BTC trade volumes increased by 41 per cent from the previous day, a clear sign of bullish sentiment ahead of options expiry today. 

Ethereum’s (ETH) London hard fork went live yesterday to provide further momentum to ETH’s current rally. As part of the EIP-1559 update, a portion of the transaction fees are burnt, removing some ETH from circulation and making the coin supply deflationary in the long term. ETH crossed the $2,800 levels for the first time since May. However, it pulled back briefly to close at $2,770, registering 14 per cent weekly gains. ETH’s next resistance stands at $2,900 while its support levels are forming at $2,600 and $2,440. ETH could soon be testing the psychological level of $3,000.

Among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, Theta (THETA) led the growth pack with a 14 per cent gain, followed by Litecoin (LTC) and Uniswap (UNI) with 3 to 7 per cent gains. Polkadot (DOT) and Chainlink (LINK) lost modestly by 2 to 3 per cent. 

With $625 million worth options expiring today, bulls are likely to exert pressure to sustain the BTC price level above $38,000. If BTC secures a daily close above $40,000, it might make a run to test the $42,000 resistance level by the weekend. 

Top Gainers today:

1. Theta (THETA): 14.2%
2. Maker (MKR): 9.7%
3. Voyager Token (VGX): 9.3%

Top Losers today:

1. Terra (LUNA): -3.9%
2. Polkadot (DOT): -2.7%
3. ICON (ICX): -2.6%

The analysis includes the top 100 coins only as of 9 am IST

Source: CoinMarketCap

Crypto News at a Glance:

1. Chinese hardware giant Xiaomi has partnered with crypto payment provider Utrust to start accepting payments made with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and Dash in Portugal. 
2. Uruguay has introduced a bill to allow businesses to accept cryptocurrencies as payments. The bill includes a regulatory framework for crypto exchanges and miners. 
3. Leading crypto exchange Coinbase has announced that users can use Apple Pay to buy digital assets on its platform to be followed by Google Pay integration later this year. 
4. Accuweather, a leading weather forecast data provider, has launched a Chainlink (LINK) node to place weather data like temperature, wind speed etc directly onto blockchain-based smart contracts.
5. Global investment firm Invesco has filed for crypto Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that would invest in Bitcoin futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

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