Technical analysis of major crypto currencies Feb 20 – 26
Last week in the news
The US equity market was traded in a mixed manner during the previous week amid fears of potential higher inflation which would imply further FED`s monetary tightening. At the same time, the crypto market ended the week in a more optimistic manner, with Bitcoin heading toward $25K resistance, and ETH heading toward the $1.7K resistance.
During the previous week there have been few surprises when it comes to US macro data and expectations on the inflation in the coming period. Published figures show that the US inflation was 5,6% in January, more than market was expecting, while core inflation stands at 6,4%, again higher from 6,2% where the expectations were standing. At the same time, retail sales were up by 3% in January, more than expected 1.8%. One of the currently quite important indicators, also published during the previous week, showed that the Producer Price Index in January was higher by 0,7%, from 0,4% expected by the market, which is the first indication that the inflation might not slow down in the following months. Posted figures were not welcomed by the market, as they indicate a potential for further FED's monetary tightening, through increased interest rates, while targeted 2% inflation still remains a hard target.
The topic of digital Euro has been in a view of the European Central Bank for some time now, however, during the Q3 of this year, the heads of the EU central banks should bring up a final decision, whether the ECB should push the program of digital currencies further and start with official testing of the digital euro. The ECB President Lagarde, noted that the question of digital euro is more of the geopolitical, technological and economic topic where the EU might be set behind the US tech companies and China's advanced payment system. She also added that currently more than ⅔ of all card transactions in the EU are processed by the companies form outside the EU.
Filecoin announced a launch of its Filecoin Virtual Machine on March 1st, instead in September this year, as it has been previously announced. Among many improvements that the FVM will allow to developers, one of the important features is related to the possibility of forming a bridge between FVM and Ethereum virtual machine, which would make easy transfers of tokens between two networks. This announcement pushed the Filecoin natural token to new highs, at $7,82 as of the end of the week.
Crypto market cap
Markets continue to be confused in a quest for clear signals over the state of the US economy. A strong job figures posted two weeks ago, in addition to higher producer price index and inflation in January, are adding to the assumption that the FED will continue with tightening monetary policy including further increases of reference interest rates. Although, during the previous week equity markets were traded in a mixed manner, the crypto market was resilient to economic news. There has been increased optimism, where total crypto market capitalization was additionally increased by 10%, adding $101B to its market cap. Almost all coins gained during the previous week, with major coins leading the surge in the market cap. Total crypto market cap reached for one more time levels above $1 trillion, and is on the road to further recovery. Daily trading volumes also increased, reaching around $116B on a daily basis. Total crypto market capitalization surged by 42% since the beginning of this year, adding total $319B to the market cap.
Almost all coins gained during the previous week, but major coins are certainly the ones that contributed the most to the surge in total market capitalization. Leader of the week was Bitcoin, which managed to surge by almost 13% on a weekly basis, adding $54B to its market cap. BTC was followed by ETH, with an increase in cap by almost $19B or 10% in value. There are few altcoins with performance above $1B like Cardano, with an increase in cap of $1,3B or more than 10%, Solana, with a surge of 15% in market cap, or Polygon with an increase of $2B in cap or 20%. Filecoin is again a coin worth mentioning considering its strong increase of coins in circulation during the last few months. The coin also managed to increase its market value by an incredible 46% on a weekly basis adding $1B to its cap. This surge was supported by the announcement from Filecoin that Filecoin Virtual Machine will be released at the beginning of March.
Crypto futures market
General positive market sentiment was reflected on the prices of both BTC and ETH futures. The futures market was traded significantly higher compared to the week before. In line with the spot market, short term BTC futures were traded on average 13% higher from the end of the previous week, while ETH futures were up by some 10%. Increased spot prices were also reflected within long term price expectations, in which sense, BTC futures with maturity in December this year were closed at price $24.780, while ETH futures for the same maturity were closed at price $1.698 on Friday.
The US equity market was traded in a mixed manner during the previous week amid fears of potential higher inflation which would imply further FED`s monetary tightening. At the same time, the crypto market ended the week in a more optimistic manner, with Bitcoin heading toward $25K resistance, and ETH heading toward the $1.7K resistance.
During the previous week there have been few surprises when it comes to US macro data and expectations on the inflation in the coming period. Published figures show that the US inflation was 5,6% in January, more than market was expecting, while core inflation stands at 6,4%, again higher from 6,2% where the expectations were standing. At the same time, retail sales were up by 3% in January, more than expected 1.8%. One of the currently quite important indicators, also published during the previous week, showed that the Producer Price Index in January was higher by 0,7%, from 0,4% expected by the market, which is the first indication that the inflation might not slow down in the following months. Posted figures were not welcomed by the market, as they indicate a potential for further FED's monetary tightening, through increased interest rates, while targeted 2% inflation still remains a hard target.
The topic of digital Euro has been in a view of the European Central Bank for some time now, however, during the Q3 of this year, the heads of the EU central banks should bring up a final decision, whether the ECB should push the program of digital currencies further and start with official testing of the digital euro. The ECB President Lagarde, noted that the question of digital euro is more of the geopolitical, technological and economic topic where the EU might be set behind the US tech companies and China's advanced payment system. She also added that currently more than ⅔ of all card transactions in the EU are processed by the companies form outside the EU.
Filecoin announced a launch of its Filecoin Virtual Machine on March 1st, instead in September this year, as it has been previously announced. Among many improvements that the FVM will allow to developers, one of the important features is related to the possibility of forming a bridge between FVM and Ethereum virtual machine, which would make easy transfers of tokens between two networks. This announcement pushed the Filecoin natural token to new highs, at $7,82 as of the end of the week.
Crypto market cap
Markets continue to be confused in a quest for clear signals over the state of the US economy. A strong job figures posted two weeks ago, in addition to higher producer price index and inflation in January, are adding to the assumption that the FED will continue with tightening monetary policy including further increases of reference interest rates. Although, during the previous week equity markets were traded in a mixed manner, the crypto market was resilient to economic news. There has been increased optimism, where total crypto market capitalization was additionally increased by 10%, adding $101B to its market cap. Almost all coins gained during the previous week, with major coins leading the surge in the market cap. Total crypto market cap reached for one more time levels above $1 trillion, and is on the road to further recovery. Daily trading volumes also increased, reaching around $116B on a daily basis. Total crypto market capitalization surged by 42% since the beginning of this year, adding total $319B to the market cap.
Almost all coins gained during the previous week, but major coins are certainly the ones that contributed the most to the surge in total market capitalization. Leader of the week was Bitcoin, which managed to surge by almost 13% on a weekly basis, adding $54B to its market cap. BTC was followed by ETH, with an increase in cap by almost $19B or 10% in value. There are few altcoins with performance above $1B like Cardano, with an increase in cap of $1,3B or more than 10%, Solana, with a surge of 15% in market cap, or Polygon with an increase of $2B in cap or 20%. Filecoin is again a coin worth mentioning considering its strong increase of coins in circulation during the last few months. The coin also managed to increase its market value by an incredible 46% on a weekly basis adding $1B to its cap. This surge was supported by the announcement from Filecoin that Filecoin Virtual Machine will be released at the beginning of March.
Crypto futures market
General positive market sentiment was reflected on the prices of both BTC and ETH futures. The futures market was traded significantly higher compared to the week before. In line with the spot market, short term BTC futures were traded on average 13% higher from the end of the previous week, while ETH futures were up by some 10%. Increased spot prices were also reflected within long term price expectations, in which sense, BTC futures with maturity in December this year were closed at price $24.780, while ETH futures for the same maturity were closed at price $1.698 on Friday.
