Bitcoin Trades Sideways, Ethereum Outperforms, Shiba Inu Loses Shine: The Week In Retrospect

Major cryptocurrencies traded flat until late Friday evening but began recovering some losses during the weekend. The crypto market cap is crawling back towards the uptrend with a current 1.2% growth to $1.98 trillion in past 24 hours.

What Happened: Bitcoin BTC/USD traded mostly sideways over the past week, briefly testing its support level of $50,800 and pushing the valuation below the $1 trillion mark. Analysts viewed this resistance level as crucial, with potential significant price reactions upon breakout.

In other developments, Shiba Inu SHIB/USD remained in the spotlight due to its notable burn rates and whale transfers throughout the week. The community also announced some major developments expected to contribute to a potential rally in the token's price.

Additionally, following former President Donald Trump's acceptance of Bitcoin, the MAGA memecoin TRUMP/USD experienced a rally, propelling the Trump crypto portfolio to newer highs.

Following Nvidia's earnings performance and Vitalik Buterin's comments on utilizing AI to address Ethereum’s technical challenges, AI-related cryptocurrencies rose on positive sentiment. Tokens like Bittensor TAO/USD and Render RNDR/USD saw gains alongside a Nvidia-related memecoin.

On a contrasting note, the European Central Bank characterized the approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs as the “naked emperor’s new clothes.” These ETFs experienced a slowdown in flows mid-week, with the top ten seeing a two-week low in inflows on Feb. 22, with five funds reporting no net movement.

Another significant development in the crypto space was social platform Reddit filing for a $5 billion IPO and allocating partial cash reserves to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Highest gainers in the past 24 hours are:

Top Gainers (24 Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market cap currently stands at $1.98 trillion.

Bitcoin’s dominance in the market marginally decreased from 52.42% last week to 51.2% this week, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index also decreasing from 76 to 70, still in the Greed zone.

In the broader market, the Nasdaq Composite over the past week rose by 1.32% to close at 15,996.82, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average also saw a 1.3% increase, closing at 39,131.53.

The week marked the Nasdaq Composite closing above the $16,000-mark first time since November 2021 driven by bullish sentiment on Nvidia Corp.’s strong quarterly results. Notable earnings winners included Block’s surprise Q4 quarter profit alongside a surge in profits from Bitcoin sales made through the Cash App.

Supporting the market rally, unexpected declines in weekly jobless claims and slightly higher-than-expected existing home sales for January were noted. Additionally, the Fed announced a pause on rate cuts until inflation reflects a sustained decline.

Analyst Notes: Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo emphasizes a historical pattern, suggesting that Bitcoin holders should hold the asset for four years as it has “never returned below 30% annualized for a 4-year investment, no matter how badly timed.”

In a short video, Rekt Capital points out the current Bitcoin pre-halving retracement, drawing parallels to historical occurrences of this pattern.

Also Read: Are Retail Investors Interested In Crypto? JPMorgan Findings Differ From Google's

What’s Next: CryptoQuant data revealed that on Feb. 19, Bitcoin accumulation addresses experienced a record-breaking net inflow of 25,300 BTC, marking the highest single-day influx ever recorded.

Crypto chart analyst Ali Martinez tweeted,

Crypto and macro stock markets trader Matthew Hyland predicts Bitcoin to be bullish for the continuation of the uptrend if it remains above the $49,100 on the weekly time frame.

Pseudonymous crypto analyst Pentoshi does not see “any signs of a major top at this point.” He adds that post the halving event, “alts will offer the most upside.”

While the week created concerns about Bitcoin breaking below the $50,000 mark, it is currently changing hands at $51,550. Will the crypto king make it to $55,000 or drop to $45,000 ahead of the Halving?

Read Next: If You Invested In Bitcoin Instead Of Buying Super Bowl Tickets Since 2012, Here's How Much You'd Have Today

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