The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a very positive moment, with the Fear&Greed Index marking 55 points, the first “greed” signal since April 2022. This is a promising signal after months of fluctuations between fear and neutrality, confirming a promising start to the year for cryptocurrencies.
In less than a month, cryptocurrency capitalization has managed to recover more than 30%, rising from $797 billion at the end of 2022, to about $1,050 billion today.
Most of the credit for this increase has gone to Bitcoin, which has surpassed $23k, recovering its August 2021 prices and wiping out the decline caused by the FTX crisis.
Ethereum, on the other hand, is returning to the highs of early November 2022 at $1,600, maintaining a market share of 18%.
Altcoins are also performing well, with some of the major and best-known ones such as Solana (SOL) and Decentraland (MANA) each gaining more than 120% since the beginning of the month. Over the past week, all of the top 50 cryptocurrencies by capitalization are on their way to closing with gains.
In particular, should Sunday night’s close confirm current levels, it would be the fourth consecutive weekly close above par for Bitcoin, an event that has not occurred since August 2021.
Also noteworthy is the rise of XRP, a cryptocurrency launched in 2012, which has recovered 20% since the beginning of the new year, with current prices above $0.40 per token, allowing it to climb back to 6th position in the overall crypto capitalization ranking.
However, the company behind XRP, Ripple Labs, is engaged in a legal dispute with the US SEC, which is objecting to the XRP token as a security, and the final ruling is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
Finally, the Aptos (APT) token deserves mention, which is putting up another triple-digit weekly rise, gaining more than 400% since the beginning of the year and earning the top spot among the month’s best rises. The Aptos blockchain was created in 2021 by a team of former developers of the Diem project (a payment system devised by Facebook in 2019) who decided to leverage their experience in building a decentralized and easily scalable payment network.
In the last week, the price of APT rose above $20 for the first time. At the opening on 1 January, the price of APT was $3.4 per token.
Summary
Bitcoin (BTC)
Despite the slowdown in its rise, the price of BTC remains firmly above $22,500. Signal of possible consolidation that will have to find confirmation until early next week.
If confirmed, the current levels will become the basis of a valid support to be stored for the coming weeks while waiting to see again the $25,500, historical resistance level.
Otherwise, the decline should not extend below $20,500 in order not to jeopardize the excellent work done since the beginning of the year.
Ethereum (ETH)
The queen of altcoins fails to keep up with BTC and stumbles with prices returning below $1,600 in recent hours.
It is important for ETH to get through the weekend unscathed with prices above $1,500 otherwise the bullish technical structure that began in early January will deteriorate.
The holding of the $1,500 in the coming days of the week could become the springboard to overcome the $1,680, resistance that coincides with the recent highs and early November.
