(Kitco News) – The month of October is off to a positive start for the crypto market as Monday saw green across the board for a majority of tokens in the top 100 to go along with gains in traditional finance markets.
Climbing prices come in the face of concerns surrounding the solvency of Credit Suisse (CS), a globally systemically important bank (G-SIB) whose CEO only managed to amplify these concerns after releasing a memo over the weekend which attempted to calm major investors about the health of the financial institution.
Data from TradingView shows that the price of Bitcoin (BTC) steadily climbed higher during trading on Monday, hitting an intraday high of $19,640 during afternoon trading before pulling back to support at $19,500.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
As it stands now, Bitcoin “bulls and bears are fighting for near-term technical control, with neither having any success,” according to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who noted that “Prices have been grinding sideways recently.”
“A move in BC prices above the September high would empower the bulls to suggest a price uptrend developing, and a move below the September low would recharge the bears and restart a price downtrend,” Wyckoff said.
BTC warming up for a potential rally
While BTC price remains squarely in the middle of the range the top crypto has been trading in for the past month and a half, today’s gains have the potential to kick off the next rally for Bitcoin, according to independent market analyst Michaël van de Poppe.
Boring markets for #Bitcoin.
To get some volatility, I’d preferably want to see $19.3K being reclaimed for support or a test of $18.75K.
Until then, range-bound and boring style remains. pic.twitter.com/yipDTLri3Q
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) October 3, 2022
For that to be true, Bitcoin will need to continue on its upward trajectory and flip resistance at $20,000 to support before attempting to break out higher.
Independent crypto analyst McKenna posted the following tweet showing the potential for BTC to climb as high as $24,400 in the near future.
I’m long BTC targeting $24400 range high. pic.twitter.com/3f6CHjHfd2
— McKenna (@Crypto_McKenna) October 3, 2022
According to McKenna, the market is probably “>80% through [the] actual downturn but now facing [a] period of low vol sideways which can be more painful. A long time horizon plus slowly scaling in positions here is where the wealth is made.”
While the BTC price remains a point of focus for traders and investors, the underlying strength of the top crypto is better exemplified by the Bitcoin network hashrate, which hit a new all-time high on October 2 when it spiked above 295 exahash per second (EH/s) according to data provided by btc.com.
Since the network’s inception, its hashrate has increased exponentially from six million hashes per second to the recent 295 quintillion hashes per second.
Altcoins in the green
On the whole, it was a positive day for financial markets across the board with a majority of top altcoins in the green while the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all closed the day in the green, up 2.59%, 2.66%, and 2.27%, respectively.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
The top gainers on the 24-hour chart include a 12.92% increase in price for Coti (COTI), a 10.13% gain for Ren (REN), and an 8.16% increase for Constellation (DAG).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $943 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 39.8%.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.