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Memecoins lead crypto market gains as prices of major tokens BTC, ETH languish: Crypto Markets Today

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Memecoins lead crypto market gains as prices of major tokens BTC, ETH languish: Crypto Markets Today

Bitcoin is struggling to regain a foothold above $70,000 as altcoins outperform.

The largest cryptocurrency is little changed over 24 hours, while the broader CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index rose 0.40% even as ether declined. Memecoins are leading gains, with the CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) adding 1.5% as PIPPIN climbed 46%.

Tokens linked to artificial intelligence (AI) also fared well. , co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, rose more than 3% in the past day, while Virtuals’ VIRTUAL token rose 2.4%. That’s as the “agentic AI,” where AI tools now also execute tasks, narrative grows.

Still, the crypto Fear and Greed Index still points to “extreme fear” in the market after last week’s selloff.

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Meanwhile, traditional markets steadied, buoyed in part by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide election victory in Japan. While Japanese bond yields rose after the result, they have since fallen near to pre-election levels. That reduces the risk of trillions of dollars invested overseas moving back to Japan in search of higher yields.

Derivatives Positioning

  • Bearish momentum in BTC futures is intensifying as open interest (OI) continues its descent to $15.9 bo;;opm, signaling a deep and prolonged deleveraging phase.
  • This shift is most evident in funding rates on Binance (-7%) and Bybit (-8%), which have collapsed into aggressive negative territory. That’s a sign short sellers are paying a heavy premium to maintain their dominance. With the three-month basis stagnant at 3%, institutional appetite remains sidelined.
  • The BTC options market is showing a cooling of extreme defensive sentiment. The one-week 25-delta skew is at 16%, while call dominance has rebounded to 56%, indicating a shift toward bottom-fishing.
  • The implied volatility (IV) term structure is transitioning from extreme backwardation toward a hybrid position that suggests that while near-term protection remains pricey, long-term volatility expectations are stabilizing.
  • Coinglass data shows $290 million in 24-hour liquidations, with a 53-47 split between longs and shorts. BTC ($114 million), ETH ($89 million) and others ($16 million) were the leaders in terms of notional liquidations. Binance’s liquidation heatmap indicates $68,160 as a core liquidation level to monitor, in case of a price drop.

Token Talk

  • Merkle Trade, the largest perpetual futures decentralized exchange on the Aptos blockchain, is in the throes of shutting down. The exchange disabled new trading positions on Friday and will forcibly close all open positions today.
  • Merkle’s native token, MKL, has added 9% in the past 24 hours. It remains redeemable without withdrawal fees, with a final staking rewards payout scheduled for Feb. 12. The token has lost 77% in the past 12 months.
  • The move comes less than two years after Merkle raised $2.1 million in a seed round backed by Aptos Labs, Hashed and Arrington Capital.
  • Despite processing $30 billion in trading volume since its 2023 debut, the team gave no clear reason for the closure in a post on X last week, noting only that the decision followed “careful consideration.”

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Crypto World

Bitcoin Breaks 5-Month Losing Streak With $68K March Close: What’s Next?

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Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Price, Markets, BTC Markets, Price Analysis, Market Analysis

Bitcoin (BTC) closed March in green, ending the longest monthly losing streak since 2018. Data suggests that the coming months may prove to be profitable for BTC.

Key takeaways:

  • Bitcoin ended March 2% higher, marking the first green monthly close in six months.

  • A similar streak in 2018/2019 led to an over 316% BTC price rebound over five months.

  • Bitcoin price faces stiff resistance at $70,000-$72,000, where key trend lines converge.

Past multi-month downtrends were followed by 300% price gains

Historical price data from CoinGlass confirms Bitcoin printed its first green monthly candle in six months, closing March 2% higher after five straight months of losses.

“This is a massive dose of hopium,” analyst Ash Crypto said in an X post on Wednesday.

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The analyst was referring to a possible shift in momentum, which might lead to a sustained recovery, as seen in previous cycles.

Related: Crypto Fear & Greed Index stuck on ‘extreme fear,’ but is there a silver lining?

The last time this happened was in 2018/2019 when BTC closed February 2019 in green, after six consecutive red months, as shown in the figure below.

This led to a reversal with over 300% returns the following five months, as Bitcoin recovered from the 2018 bear market.

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“Last time BTC dumped 6 months in a row, it pumped the following 5 months in a row that came after!” trader Satoshi Flipper said in a Wednesday post on X.

Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Price, Markets, BTC Markets, Price Analysis, Market Analysis
Bitcoin monthly percentage returns. Source: CoinGlass

If history repeats itself, the reversal may continue in April, suggesting that BTC price may have bottomed at $60,000.

Bitcoin’s bullish monthly close is a ”catalyst for fresh inflows into early April,” Trader Caleb said, adding:

“April starts with momentum.”

Bitcoin has a well-established tendency for significant price swings in April.

Since 2013, April has been a green month for eight of the past 13 years, with average returns of about 12.2%

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However, Bitcoin also tends to move in the opposite direction to March in April, and this is true for nine out of the past 13 years. 

In recent years, Bitcoin dropped in April after closing March in green, three out of four times between 2021 and 2024. 

Therefore, while the end of past multi-month drawdowns suggests a rebound is due, data demonstrates that BTC price could also slide in April.

Watch these Bitcoin price levels next

Data from TradingView shows BTC price up 2.5% on the day to trade at $68,470 as the $69,000-$70,000 resistance remains in place.

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Analysts expect Bitcoin’s range-bound price action to continue for longer, with important price levels to look for in case of a breakout. 

These include the $70,000-$72,000 supply zone, coinciding with the 50-day simple moving average (SMA), the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) and the 1w–1m cohort cost basis

This is also where investors acquired approximately 650,000 BTC, marking a potential point of sell pressure, according to the cost-basis distribution data from Glassnode.

Breaking above this level could see BTC/USD revisit the $76,000 range high and eventually the $80,000 psychological level.

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BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Zooming out, trader Sheldon Diedericks said Bitcoin could “push into resistance” at $83,000 on the monthly time frame, a key support level from April 2025. The 200-day EMA is also close to this area.

BTC/USD monthly chart. Source: X/Sheldon Diedericks

On the downside, the 200-week EMA at $68,300 and the 200-week SMA at $59,400 remain key levels to watch. Below that, the next major level is Bitcoin’s realized price around $54,000.

As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin’s bear market bottom could be formed once BTC price drops toward or below its realized price.