Weekly Crypto Analysis: BTC Fails to Break $40K, Crypto Market Cap Recovers to $1.7 Trillion

2022/02/28 11:32:16

Today's global cryptocurrency market capitalization is $1.70 trillion, returning to the levels it was on prior to the Eastern European conflict. The previous day's total Bitcoin trading volume was $144 billion, while the market dominance increased by 0.13% to 41.89%. DeFi and Play to Earn cae out as two current industry trends leading the market.

Crypto Market Overview

Following global uncertainty and high inflation levels, the cryptocurrency market's freefall came to an end, with top crypto assets showing strength amid market buying. The leading digital tokens gained support and experienced a bullish correction.

While much of the broader crypto markets have seen a minor uptick recently, one Ethereum (ETH) competitor is outperforming the rest with substantially larger gains.

Cryptocurrency Market Heatmap | Source: Coin360

The native token of Terra's decentralized payment system, LUNA, rose from $48.53 on February 22nd to $71.14 on February 28th, a gain of more than 47% during the previous week. Anchor Protocol is now trading at $3.51, up 52.96% in the last seven days. At the same time, Bitcoin and Ethereum dropped by 1.25% and 0.16%, respectively.

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Top Altcoin Gainers:

· Anchor Protocol (ANC) ➠ 52.96%

· Terra (LUNA) ➠ 39.24%

· Waves (WAVES) ➠ 23.92%

Top Altcoin Losers:

· Convex Finance (CVX) ➠ 27.63%

· The Graph (GRT) ➠ 18.95%

· Curve DAO Token (CRV) ➠ 18.48%

News Highlights

Here are some of the events that made the previous week's crypto news section stand out:

El Salvador to Launch Hospital from Crypto Profits

El Salvador recently announced opening a veterinary hospital called "Chivo Pets" in March. The intriguing aspect of this hospital is that it was built with Bitcoin profits earned by the nation from purchasing Bitcoins. El Salvador was able to fund a $4 million hospital with BTC profits just four months after making it legal tender in their country. El Salvador's developments since its adoption of BTC have not gone unnoticed, but the country has also received significant criticism from other countries and the IMF.

Moreover, Morena Valdez, El Salvador's Tourism Minister, claimed the tourism industry had grown by more than 30% since adopting the Bitcoin law in September of last year. He stated that the tourism sector increased by 30% in November and December, and the number of tourists from the United States increased significantly, with the United States accounting for 60% of all travelers in 2021.

This cryptocurrency news and updates add optimization for digital assets, resulting in a bullish bias in the market.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell Testifies at House Committee

The US Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, will remain in highlights during the weekend ahead. He will testify before the House Financial Services Committee on March 2nd and the Senate Banking Committee on March 3rd, kicking off a busy week for short-term economic announcements.

Investors will learn more about how the Fed intends to use hawkish monetary policy to combat decades-high inflation rates, as well as whether America's involvement in the Ukraine conflict will influence short-term monetary policy decisions.

Powell's remarks are critical and typically drive sharp volatility in the US dollar prices. Hence, it may also cause volatility in the dollar-denominated cryptocurrency pairs.

US Nonfarm Payroll under the Spotlight

In January 2022, the US economy added 467K jobs, exceeding market expectations of 150K. The January figures were a big surprise because the omicron coronavirus variant kept many US citizens out of work amid illness or family care during the month.

Especially after the ADP report revealed that private firms cut 301K jobs, and the White House warned that the data could be shaky because the peak of omicron cases coincided with when payroll data was collected.

Economists anticipate a slight decrease in nonfarm payrolls in the United States, from 467K to 400K. While the US unemployment rate is anticipated to fall from 4% to 3.9 %, this may compensate for the weaker US NFP figures.

BTC/USDT Chart on the 4-hour Timeframe | Source: KuCoin

Bitcoin Technical Analysis

Bitcoin has failed to break through a critical resistance level of $40,000. On the 4-hour timeframe, the 61.8 % Fibonacci retracement level at $39,670 is acting as a major hurdle, and closing candles below this level adds to the market's selling bias.

Bitcoin is also struggling to break above the 50-day moving average at $38,240. Analysts state that the closing of doji candles below the 50 MA reinforces the market's bearish bias. Leading technical indicators such as MACD and RSI are in a selling zone.

On the downside, the immediate support for the BTC/USDT is $36,780. A break of the $36,780 level exposes Bitcoin to support levels of $35,510 or $34,295 in the short term. Under $38,240, a bearish bias may prevail, and vice versa.

Good luck, fellas. Stay tuned for exciting updates!

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