Bitcoin Recaptures $29,500 As Meme Token Rockets Higher

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(Kitco News) – Financial assets from cryptocurrencies to stocks rallied on Friday as the latest US jobs data showed the labor market remains strong, giving investors hope that the Fed may put rate hikes on hold at the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting ). month.

Stocks were higher at the open, reversing losses that followed this week’s 25bps rate hike by the Fed and ending the week on a positive note, thanks in part to a strong recovery in regional bank stocks such as PacWest, Western Alliance and Zion. At the close of trading, the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq were well in the green, up 1.85%, 1.65% and 2.25% respectively.

Data provided by TradingView shows that after falling lower throughout the morning session, Bitcoin’s (BTC) price edged higher in the afternoon, rising to a daily high of $29,780 before retreating to support at $29,500.

BTC/USD Chart by TradingView

“Trade remains choppy and sideways in a range at higher levels,” Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff wrote in his morning Bitcoin update. “The bulls still have the small overall technical advantage in the near term.”

Market analyst Michaël van de Poppe agreed with this sentiment and posted the following tweet noting that if BTC can hold above $29,100, there is a good chance that the bulls could attempt to push the top crypto to a new 2023 high in the coming the weeks.

#Bitcoin holding $28,900 and breaking upwards, which $PEPE reaching the market value of 1.5 billion dollars.

Things are heating up again.

As long as $29,100 holds, I think we will see tests of the highs too #Bitcoin next week. pic.twitter.com/X8Hdc2gkTC

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) 5 May 2023

Bank battles and debt ceiling

While cryptocurrency supporters are excited about the rising price of Bitcoin and the ongoing meme coin mania, investors in the broader financial markets are voicing concerns about several threats to economic stability, including the unfolding banking crisis and the threat of a US government default. early June this year.

According to Mikkel Morch, chairman and non-executive director of ARK36, “If the US defaults it will be an event that not only shakes the US, but all financial systems and the entire world economy will see negative consequences far and wide.”

Morch said a U.S. government default has the potential to negatively impact the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as investors look to reduce risk.

“However, when traditional banks fail and with them the slow, expensive, centralized payment systems that come with them, more people may turn to decentralized finance and its use of cryptocurrency,” he suggested. “That’s exactly what we’ve seen in countries with large-scale or government standards, where people have actually increased their migration to Defi and cryptocurrencies.”

Highlighting the rampant global inflation experienced over the past year, Morch said it only contributes to this trend and suggested we could see an increase in “migration from traditional finance and the USD to these new financial systems and currencies, including Bitcoin.”

“This is supported by data showing that Bitcoin has once again set a new positive record in daily transaction volumes, which is an indicator that more and more people are looking at BTC – and other cryptocurrencies – as practical payment tools and not just a store of value.” he said.

For DeFi and the cryptocurrency space in general to gain wider adoption, Morch said increased integrations with traditional finance and more regulation to weed out bad actors are needed.

“As the cryptocurrency and Defi space grows, the underlying technology, security and speeds improve,” he said. “Overall, the above will create a more bullish sentiment for the area and in itself further reinforce the asset space.”

Green shoots in the altcoin market

Selected altcoins rose in price on Friday while the broader altcoin market rallied, thanks in large part to ongoing demand for meme tokens such as Pepe (PEPE), which rose 88.11%, and Floki (FLOKI), which climbed 41.8% to close out the week.

Daily performance in the cryptocurrency market. Source: Coin360

Other notable performers include UMA (UMA) and SSV Network (SSV), which posted gains of 41.6% and 14.41% respectively, while Radicle (RAD), a top performer earlier in the week, suffered the biggest loss of the day with its price falling 20.9% to trade at $3.35.

The total cryptocurrency market cap is now $1.22 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 46.9%.