Bitcoin briefly hits $73,000, Ethereum surpasses $4,100 to hit new year-high

Crypto market update: After a sharp fall in its price in the late-night trade, Bitcoin has regained the 72,000 level with close to 0.8 per cent gains in the last 24 hours. The leading crypto token also broke past its all-time high to briefly cross the $73,000 mark before retracting under the 72,000 mark. 

In terms of memecoins, Dogwifhat (WIF), a dog-based meme token, has garnered strong attention from investors and gained close to 500 per cent gains in the last 1 month to steal the 51st spot as per market capitalisation rankings. 

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has also remained stable in the last 24 hours with the index hovering at 81 points in the index. 

Crypto Fear and Greed Index | Image credit: Alternative.me

The continuous rise in Bitcoin’s price in the last 6 weeks has led the Bitcoin mining revenue to hit an all-time high. According to Blockchain.com, Bitcoin mining revenues surged to $78.89 million on March 11 for the first time in history, breaking past the previous high of $74.4 million set in October 2021.

Bitcoin mining revenue | Image credit: Blockchain.com

Citing the volatility in Bitcoin charts as a result of over $360 million in liquidations of leveraged derivatives positions, Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX said, “Despite Bitcoin's significant rise, there are indications of momentum slowing down, as highlighted by the diminishing Relative Strength Index (RSI) despite the high prices.” 

Menon also believes that the $69,000 threshold might provide temporary support, reminiscent of patterns observed during the 2021 bull market peak.

In terms of technical indicators, Menon said, “BTC/USD's hourly MACD displays bullish momentum, gaining strength in the bullish zone. The hourly RSI indicates strength, hovering above the 50 level. Key support levels are at $71,300 and $70,000, with resistance levels to monitor at $72,000, $72,850, and $73,000.” 

Following the bearish CPI announcement, which showed higher-than-expected data, coupled with significant BTC ETF outflows from GBTC, both BTC and ETH experienced a quick 4-5 per cent decline, dragging down altcoins as well. Later, both BTC and ETH managed to recover, highlighted CoinDCX Research Team. 

Technically, BTC hasn't shown any major signs of reversal yet, indicating a bullish sentiment, but the data on ETF inflows will be crucial to monitor. CoinDCX also said that ETH remains fundamentally strong and is expected to surpass the $4,100 mark soon. 

As the inflation data from yesterday’s CPI report showed an increased rate of inflation from the expectation, BTC tested the $69,000 level again but successfully managed to flip the long-term resistance as support. Interestingly, BTC also hit an all-time high yet again at $73k before sliding down causing more than $350 million of liquidation in the last 24 hrs, shared CoinSwitch Markets Desk. 

With the ETH Dencun upgrade going live at 7.25 pm today, CoinSwitch expects that rollups can then post data on the Ethereum blockchain at 10 times lower rates than before. The blockchains being directly impacted positively by this upgrade will be the top layer-2 solutions including MATIC, OP, and ARB. However, it is worth noting that a major unlocking event of ARB is happening in the coming week, causing more than $2 billion worth of ARB tokens to come into circulation, the Benguluru-based startup added. 

The CEO of Mudrex, Edul Patel said, “Bitcoin dropped a bit in the past 24 hours amid US inflation concerns, with CPI surpassing forecasts for February. Despite this, it remains steady above $72,000, bolstered by ongoing investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs. Blackrock's holdings have surged to nearly 204K Bitcoins, totalling over $14.76 billion in assets under management. Over the past month, Bitcoin has surged by 44 per cent, setting sights on breaching the $76,000 mark.

Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin said, “Bitcoin, made another ATH yesterday, surpassing $73,000. After dipping nearly 6 per cent, Bitcoin managed to recover, trading at around $72,000. On the other hand, Ethereum has broken the $4,000 resistance several times over the last few days, which could target the next resistance at $4,200. Blockchain tokens like MOVR, NEAR, and AVAX saw strong gains of over 20 per cent.”