The world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has been showing greater volatility around $40,000 levels. As of press time, the BTC price has corrected 2.85% and is currently trading at $40,546 levels with a market cap of $771 billion.
On-chain data provider Santiment reported whales have been accumulating during the recent price drop under $40,000. It noted:
Bitcoin whale addresses holding 100 to 10k $BTC have collectively accumulated 18,104 more $BTC since the April 10th price drop below $40k. However, their holdings are still down substantially since October. Meanwhile, $USDT buying power looks promising.
Based on the current technical chart levels, crypto analyst Ali Martinez writes: “Bitcoin needs to get back above $40,800 for a chance to rebound to $45,000 or even $50,000. Be aware a decisive daily close below $39,400-$38,500 can invalidate the optimistic outlook and result in a retracement to $35,000 or even $30,000 for $BTC”.
Bitcoin which was trading close to $43,000 earlier on Thursday has lost steam after the commentary from Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank has been thinking of tighter monetary policy providing a headwind for risk-ON assets like stocks and crypto.
During the next FOMC meeting in May, the Fed has hinted at increasing the interest rates by 50 basis points.
The Movement in the Altcoin Market
Along with Bitcoin, the broader cryptocurrency has come under pressure. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH) is down by 3% but is holding up its crucial support levels of $3,000. On-chain data provider Santiment notes:
Ethereum’s address activity really picked up this week, with Wednesday’s 592k addresses being the highest number of unique interactions in over a month. Meanwhile, social discussion for $ETH has hit its highest levels in over two months.
On the other hand, all other top ten altcoins have corrected anywhere between 3-5%. The altcoin market has seen active trading recently with altcoins like Terra (LUNA) showing swift movements.