The global cryptocurrency market consolidated further with a 3 per cent decline today to reach $2.0 trillion as of 9 am IST. Trade volumes across exchanges also exhibited a similar 3 per cent decline to $110 billion.

Bitcoin (BTC) traded sub-$48,000 after getting rejected at that resistance level for most of the day before closing at $46,900 - a decrease of 2.8 per cent from the previous day. Technically, BTC has broken down from a rising wedge on a daily time frame indicating further drops before it gets a relief rally. BTC trade volume remained at $33 billion for the day.

Most altcoins were in the red today with a bearish outlook - a trend observed from the increased dominance of BTC, which rose by 0.2 per cent to 44.2 per cent. Ethereum (ETH) dipped by 2.3 per cent to close at $3,090 after breaking its $3,100 support. ETH now faces resistance at $3,140 and $3,270 levels.

Only two coins among the top 20 cryptocurrencies (excluding stablecoins) registered a green daily candle – Solana (SOL), with a 13 per cent gain and Terra (LUNA), with a modest 0.3 per cent gain. Ripple (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Chainlink (LINK) and Internet Computer (ICP) dropped by more than 5.5 per cent today.

SOL has gained substantially over the last one month from $27 to $80 levels, almost a 3x. This growth can be attributed to strong weekly inflows of $7 million plus into SOL based products from institutional investors.

As $2 billion worth options expire today, BTC must hold on to the key support level at $46,700 to keep a check on the downtrend with a lower support forming at $43,800. BTC faces its next resistance levels at $47,300 and $49,400. With most altcoins either in descending channels or in a downtrend, the market is likely to remain bearish over the weekend.

Top Gainers today:

1. Solana (SOL): 13.0%
2. Revain (REV): 2.6%
3. Terra (LUNA): 0.3%

Top Losers today:

1. NEAR Protocol (NEAR): -13.5%
2. Fantom (FTM): -11.8%
3. Dash (DASH): -11.3%

The analysis includes the top 100 coins only as of 9 am IST

Source: CoinMarketCap

Crypto News at a Glance:

1. Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Raghuram Rajan has said in an interview that cryptocurrencies have a chance of becoming an effective means of payment in the future. He also called for appropriate regulations for fiat pegged stablecoins.
2. Microsoft has won a patent for implementing a cross-chain token management system which allows developers to write code for managing tokens in a manner that is blockchain agnostic.
3. Japanese crypto exchange Liquid, which was hacked last week for over $90 million, has secured $120 million in debt financing from US-based FTX exchange to help improve its balance sheet and secure licenses in Japan and Singapore.
4. Major five-star hotel Chedi Andermatt becomes the first luxury hotel in Switzerland to accept Bitcoin and Ethereum as payment of more than 200 Swiss francs from guests.
5. Supply chain platform Vechain has announced a new blockchain platform designed to help businesses track and report their carbon emissions.

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