Weekly Crypto Analysis: Market on Fire, DeFi TVL Hits Lifetime High, Bitcoin and Stepn Outlook

2022/04/04 14:40:11

Global cryptocurrencies are trading bullish on Monday, as the market continues to offer plenty of positive fundamentals. The global cryptocurrency market capitalization increased to $2.31 billion from $2.10 trillion in the previous week. While trading volumes increased to $95.15 billion from $90.99 billion the previous week.

Let's take a quick look at the latest cryptocurrency market news and the technical outlook for the leading crypto coins, Bitcoin (BTC) and Stepn (GMT).

Crypto Market Overview

Bitcoin’s dominance is now sitting at 40.70%, as the largest cryptocurrency in the market consolidates at $46,964.94. During the past week, Bitcoin hasn't changed much and continues to trade near $46,212, having lost just 1.41%. On the other hand, Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has increased by 5.78% in the past seven days. On Monday, ETH/USDT was trading at $3,504, up about 0.30% in 24 hours.

Zilliqa (ZIL) extended this week's gains, rising as much as 14% today, bringing its one-week price increase to more than 300%. Increases in the price of the Zilliqa token occurred as markets anticipated the release of a new product based on a metaverse-as-a-service model. Bulls have jumped on board, with ZIL/USDT reaching an intraday high of $0.2281 on the news.

Cryptocurrency Heat Map | Source: Coin360

The crypto market is experiencing positive trading sentiment, and cryptocurrency prices are rising. We appear to have a good chance of going long on digital assets.

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Altcoins such as Stepn (GMT), Moonbeam (GLMR), and SKALE Network (SKL) remained the top performers from the previous week. GMT increased by more than 200% to trade at $2.43, while GLMR surged by 80.70% in the last seven days to $5.43.

Top Altcoin Gainers:

➢ Stepn (GMT) ➠ 203.43%

➢ Moonbeam (GLMR) ➠ 80.70%

➢ SKALE Network (SKL) ➠ 55.82%

Top Altcoin Losers:

➢ ApeCoin (APE) ➠ 17.54%

➢ Zcash (ZEC) ➠ 14.69%

➢ OKB (OKB)➠ 9.28%

Crypto Fundamentals & News Highlights This Week

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

Crypto Market Sentiment - Fear and Greed Index

As discussed in the previous weekly report, the cryptocurrency fear and greed index collects and condenses emotions and sentiments from various sources into a single number. The Fear & Greed Index for Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies is calculated on a daily basis.

Fear & Greed Index | Source: Alternative

The crypto Fear & Greed Index has shown extreme fear in the last month, causing a downtrend in the crypto market. However, this week's score is 52 (Neutral), which means that some investors are feeling a little more optimistic.

Total Value Locked in DeFi Hits Lifetime High $231 Billion

Total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is currently around $231 billion, with Curve Finance leading by 9.20 percent with a TVL of $21.3 billion. Curve is a DeFi application that provides nine different blockchain networks, and Curve's TVL has increased by 19.14 percent in the last month.

MakerDAO was the second-largest DeFi protocol in aspects of TVL for much of the last year, but that is no longer the case. With $20.43 billion in DeFi TVL as of April 3, the DeFi application Lido is the second-largest DeFi TVL.

In fact, the rate at which Lido's TVL is increasing suggests that it may soon overtake Curve Finance. Lido's TVL, which supports four different blockchains, has increased by 59.78 percent in the last month.

Total Value Locked | Source: Defillama

Furthermore, the price of Bitcoin surpassed the $46K mark on Sunday, resulting in a market capitalization of $870 billion. A rise in the total value that is locked makes investors more confident and traders start to enter the cryptocurrency market.

Why Bitcoin Price Will Reach $100K, Defiance CEO Explains

According to the CEO of Defiance ETFs, she is "completely bullish on bitcoin." A good time to invest in cryptocurrency is now, she said. She also said that the price of bitcoin will reach $100,000.

In an interview with CNBC, Sylvia Jablonski, CEO, CFO, and co-founder of Defiance ETFs, explained her bullishness on bitcoin despite recent price declines. People who work for Defiance ETFs run exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and a registered investment advisor who focuses on thematic investing.

According to Jablonski,: "I remain completely bullish on bitcoin. I think the short-term activity is just noise. "

These comments add to the bullish bias in the crypto market, not only for Bitcoin but also for the altcoins.

Ether Steady Near $3.5K as Ethereum Merge Stays in Highlights

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has increased by 5.78% in the past seven days. On Monday, ETH/USDT was trading at $3,504, up about 0.30% in 24 hours. Most of the bullish bias in Ether has been driven by the latest developments in Ethereum and the Merge to Proof-of-Stake.

The transition to Proof-of-Stake has been a long time coming for Ethereum. The Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, also known as "The Merge," is set to go live by the end of June and is described as "the biggest news in crypto today."

According to analysts, developers have successfully tested the merger of Ethereum's proof-of-work and proof-of-stake chains, which will enable Ether staking to earn yields of up to 10% to 15%. With this kind of market optimization, crypto traders are more likely to keep their positions in the ETH/USDT coin, which will help its price.

Bitcoin Supported Amid 3,000 Crypto ATMs Installation in Q1, 2022

The uptrend in Bitcoin can also be associated with the surge in the number of ATMs on the market. There has been a huge rise in the number of cryptocurrencies’ automated teller machines (ATMs) in the last year. Data shows that 20,000 crypto ATMs have been installed.

This year, several ATMs are still being installed. Since December 30, 2,759 more machines have been added to the global list of 36,659 crypto ATMs.

Crypto Funding Rates Turn Positive Amid Optimization in Perpetual Futures

Looking at the most recent Bitcoin funding rates, we can see that they have turned positive, remaining mostly above 0%. The crypto funding rate and bitcoin prices typically have a positive correlation. As a result of a positive shift in the crypto funding rate, the BTC/UST price has also risen.

BTC Funding Rates History | Source: Coinglass

Looking at the BTC funding rate history, it is turning slightly positive, indicating investor confidence in the crypto market's uptrend.

Finally, we're going to look at how the crypto market works on the technical side.

Crypto Technical Analysis

That concludes the crypto news and fundamental outlook; let us now turn our attention to the market's technical side.

Bitcoin (BTC/USDT) Analysis on KuCoin Chart

On a daily timeframe, the BTC/USDT pair is consolidating in a narrow trading range of 45,000 to $48,350. The leading cryptocurrency pair has already violated the ascending triangle pattern, which is now acting as solid support at $45,425. A surge in Bitcoin demand pushes its price towards the next resistance level of $48,350.

Bitcoin's next resistance level remains at $51,990, which is extended by the daily chart's double top pattern.

BTC/USDT Chart on the Daily Timeframe | Source: KuCoin

Alternatively, a surge in the selling trend and a bearish breakout exposes the Bitcoin price towards an uptrend trendline-driven support level of $42,500. Under this, the next support level is at the $40,544 level.

Stepn (GMT/USDT) Analysis on KuCoin Chart

On the 4-hour timeframe, the GMT/USDT coin is trading choppy near the $2.19 support level. The Stepn Token has already done a 23.6% Fibonacci retracement, and now it's going even lower to a 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $2.19, which is where it's going to end up next.

The formation of Doji candles above 38.2% Fib indicates weakness in the selling bias. Thus, the $2.19 level is acting as major potential support. Under this, GMT/USDT's next major support stays at 1.89%, which is extended by a 50% Fib level.

GMT/USDT Chart on the 4-Hour Timeframe | Source: KuCoin

The relative strength index is at 50, suggesting indecision among investors. While other technical indicators are in a sell zone. Stepn's immediate resistance remains at $2.74, which is extended by a double top pattern. A breakthrough at this level exposes the GMT coin to $3.13.