Major cryptocurrencies’ price, including Ethereum (ETH/USD) and Bitcoin, were affected by macro data released by the United States.
The middle week of February brought with it important news for traditional financial markets.
In particular, the release of US macro data, including the consumer price index (CPI) and producer prices (PPI), was much higher than expected.
This could have a significant impact on the program of the Fed, the US central bank, which may be forced to change its monetary policy again.
Some bankers on the Fed board have become hawkish again, that is, in favor of raising interest rates. Specifically, there is talk of a 50 basis point increase during the upcoming March and June meetings, rather than the 25 basis points as was thought until a few days ago. This would bring the range of rates between 5% and 5.25 % over the course of the year.
The nervous reaction of the markets, as predicted in the article earlier this week, was not long in coming, with bond indices falling followed by equity indices. The Standard&Poor 500 is set to close its second consecutive week below par.
However, digital assets have fared decidedly differently. Cryptocurrency prices rallied again, recording new highs since the beginning of the year. In particular, Bitcoin was up 10% on a weekly basis, followed by Ethereum and all other major cryptocurrencies, with weekly rises close to double digits.
Among the big names, the token of Polygon (MATIC) firmly held its place on the top step of the podium of rises since the beginning of the year (+90% YTD), continuing to reap rises week after week and heading to close its sixth consecutive week up, with a streak that has never happened in its history.
In recent hours, MATIC’s price has surpassed $12.7 per token, recovering its highest level in 12 months. Should Sunday night’s closing week confirm current prices, or higher, it would end the week with a gain greater than 18% for the third time since the beginning of the year.
The cryptocurrency market held other surprises, with some digital assets posting double-digit weekly gains. Among the 50 largest capitalized ones, Filecoin (FIL) and Internet Computer (ICP) stand out.
Filecoin, the governance token of the first decentralized InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) data storage network, has hit a 40% rise from last Friday’s levels, pushing above $6.5 per token for the first time since last August. It currently ranks 27th with a market capitalization of $924 million.
Internet Computer (ICP) has also seen significant growth in its weekly price, rising 30% and pushing above $6.6 for the first time since September. ICP’s Blockchain was developed in 2016 by the Zurich, Switzerland-based Dfinity Foundation with the goal of enabling developers to create decentralized firewall-protected systems and services managed by smart contracts, as well as tokenized cloud computing apps and services.
Both projects are based on blockchain technology and offer innovative solutions for data management and storage. In particular, Filecoin (FIL) is designed to offer a decentralized storage solution that allows data to be securely and reliably saved without relying on a single central server.
Internet Computer (ICP), on the other hand, aims to revolutionize the way cloud services are delivered by offering a platform that can manage applications more efficiently and securely. Using blockchain technology, data is protected from cyber attacks and provides greater privacy and security.
Following the rally in recent weeks of other artificial intelligence-related projects, the positive performance of Filecoin and Internet Computer shows that the artificial intelligence-related cryptocurrency sector is attracting the interest of savvy users and the possibility of seeing innovative and reliable projects emerge by gaining adoption by enterprising investors.
Price analysis of Bitcoin (BTC)
The strong performance at the beginning of the week (+9.2%) confirms the restart of the new monthly cycle, as hypothesized in the last update written on these pages at the beginning of the week.
In fact, the lows recorded between Friday and Monday of last week confirmed the market’s rebound, taking prices above the highs of the previous cycle, with the $24,000 being exceeded.
Despite the upward jump on Wednesday 15 February, which recorded the second best performance in the past 3 months, the red close of the next daily candle yesterday, Thursday 16 February, with prices at the lowest levels of the day that recorded the highest highs of the past six months, drew a dangerous ‘shooting star’ on the chart.
In addition, yesterday’s day recorded the highest trading volume in the last quarter, raising fears of a massive prevalence of profit-taking concomitant with the break of medium-term resistance.
For this reason, it becomes important to follow the market’s trend in the coming days, monitoring daily closes above $23,750, which represents daily resistance from the beginning of the month, or below $23,520, the closing level of yesterday’s candle that becomes crucial support of the fledgling monthly cycle.
In summary, Bitcoin‘s positive trend suffered a setback yesterday, but the situation remains positive, also confirmed by the Fear & Greed Index at its highest levels since November 2021.
Price analysis of Ethereum (ETH/USD)
The technical structure of Ethereum is similar to that of Bitcoin.
In the week just passed, the price rise took Ethereum above $1,720, touching a height not seen since early September last year.
However, yesterday’s bearish ‘shooting star’ candle on Thursday, 16 February, slowed the celebration of new annual highs, warning investors against new buying.
Against this backdrop, today’s close, as well as that of the next two days of the weekend, should not record closes below $1,635, a level that coincides with yesterday’s lows and close, so as not to jeopardize the start of the new monthly cycle that ignited the uptrend of the past few days.
In addition, holding support at $1,635 will be a good clue to propel prices into the $1,800 area in the coming days, which is September’s resistance.
Otherwise, the break of support would announce a change of trend in the early part of the cycle increasing the chances of seeing $1,480 again soon.
