The global cryptocurrency market advanced by 4 per cent today to stand at $1.91 trillion as of 9 am IST. This was aided by Bitcoin (BTC) finding strong support at $41,300, the 100-day moving average, and rallies by major altcoins such as Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), and Avalanche (AVAX). Trade volumes across exchanges saw a modest 1.5 per cent increase as investors remain cautious of a strengthening dollar. The US infrastructure bill is expected to be voted on this week and may have ramifications on the financial sector, including the cryptocurrency market, in the short term.

BTC had a retest of the $40,700 level yesterday, a must-hold support level to prevent a drop to $38,000. However, the bulls aggressively defended the support level as BTC gained strongly in early hours today to close at $43,200, a 3 per cent daily increase. BTC is expected to face resistance at $43,600, the 100-day exponential moving average (EMA), and $44,000. BTC trade volumes surged by 9 per cent indicating an uptick in buyer interest.

After getting rejected from the 100 day EMA at $2,940 earlier this week, ETH managed to break above the resistance to reclaim the $3,000 psychological level today. However, on the way up, there’s a confluence of resistance near the $3,100 region. On the downside, bulls would need to defend the $2,600 level, losing which would open the door to $2,350. ETH is currently trading near $3,030, up by 4 per cent today.

Most top 20 cryptocurrencies capitalised on the price actions of BTC and ETH and registered gains. BNB rallied the most by 12 per cent while Avalanche (AVAX), Chainlink (LINK), and Ripple (XRP) gained more than 4 per cent. Cosmos (ATOM) was the exception today with a modest 0.5 per cent drop.

In September, BTC has declined by 10 per cent so far though whales (larger investors) have added to their holdings by 37,056 BTC overall. BTC, if it holds its 20 week moving average of $40,700 for another 2 or 3 weeks, is likely to rally in October to reclaim $50,000.

Top Gainers today:

1. OMG Network (OMG): 19.2%

2. Zilliqa (ZIL): 12.2%

3. Binance Coin (BNB): 12.0%

Top Loser today:

1. Compound (COMP): -9.2%

2. Celer Network (CELR): -5.2%

3. Perpetual Protocol (PERP): -5.1%

Analysis includes the top 100 cryptocurrencies only as of 9 am IST

Source: CoinMarketCap

Crypto News at a Glance:

1. Switzerland has approved the first cryptocurrency fund which was launched by Swiss asset manager Crypto Finance. The fund will track the performance of the Crypto Market Index 10, a product of the SIX Swiss Exchange.

2. Thailand’s tourism authority is planning to create a utility token called TAT coin that will enable tourism operators to cash in on the popularity of cryptocurrencies and promote tourism among crypto enthusiasts.

3. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk expressed his support for cryptocurrencies by stating that it would be impossible to destroy crypto while Governments can still slow down its advancement.

4. Lightning network, a layer-2 solution for Bitcoin (BTC) designed to make BTC transactions efficient, has reached an all-time high network capacity with almost 3,000 BTC locked on the network. This surge comes post the release of Twitter’s BTC tipping feature and El Salvador’s official wallet.

5. El Salvador’s President has revealed that there’s progress on the construction of the Bitcoin (BTC) mining farm in the country that may be powered by volcanic geothermal energy.