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Bitcoin's relentless rally ever since Silicon Valley Banks collapse caused a mini meltdown earlier this month is showing signs of tapering off, but not before the benchmark cryptocurrency chalked up considerable gains in the process.

Since the fateful day of 10 March, when SVB was unable to sustain itself amid a bruising bank run, BTC/USDT has surged over 40%, peaking at US$28,470 on Monday, 20 March.

Since then, the pair has cooled off, posting small losses on Monday and then adding around 1.4% on Tuesday, while remaining essentially flat at US$28,125 this morning.

Bitcoin (BTC) has been on a rollercoaster since the FTXcollapse last November Source: currency.com

Open interest in bitcoin futures remains at a nine-month high, indicating sustained volatility plays among traders.

The question for the market is: Can bitcoin stabilise at this price point?

Much of the coins recent strength was due to its perceived safe-haven status as the traditional markets went into a spin, so it stands to reason that when things calm down, so will the price of bitcoin.

If investors decide to take profits en masse, we could see some price deflation.

There is also the spectre of ongoing interest rate hikes, less likely now than they were merely two weeks ago, but considerably higher-than-expected inflation data emerging from the UK this morning proves that the issue persists, and thus so could rate hikes.

Risk-on assets tend to take the backseat whenever central bank hawks take the wheel, and with interest rate decisions from the US and UK due over the following 24 hours, its a headwind that cannot be ignored.

That being said, Matt Maximo and Michael Zhao at Grayscale suggested that bitcoin may emerge as a strong performer regardless of the outcome, since safe-haven money allocations will remain buoyant for some time to come.

For now, Binances order book shows strong support at the 28k mark, which may act as a buffer to losses below this point, while selling pressure is most evident at US$28,400.

Ethereum (ETH)s price action has been more muted than bitcoins although the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation has still benefitted from the recent turmoil.

ETH/USDT has rallied 30% since 10 March, peaking at US$1,840 on Sunday, 19 March. The pair has been fairly volatile since, with bulls and bears jostling between the US$1,700and US$1,850 price range.

At the time of writing, ETH/USDT was changing hands at US$1,790, having fallen by 0.6% in early trades. ETHbears have pitched up a considerable sell wall at US$1,807.

Binances order book shows bearish resistance at US$1,807 Source: binance.com

Ripple Labs XRP token steamed ahead in the past 24 hours, racking up around 20% to bring the payment token to a four-month high of 0.457 cents.

As has been the case with previous rallies, it correlates to renewed optimism that Ripple Labs is set to trump the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the long-running SEC v Ripple Labs lawsuit launched way back in December 2020.

The regulator contends that XRP is an unregistered security and thus Ripple Labs illegally raised US$1.3bn from its initial coin offering.

A favourable pending outcome for Ripple Labs is evidently being priced into the market.

The rest of the top-20 altcoin set has remained relatively muted, with Polkadot (DOT), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Tron (TRX) and Litecoin (LTC) moving into week-on-week losses in the low single digits.

Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation added 2.8% to US$1.18tn overnight, while total value locked in the decentralised finance (DeFi) space added 1.3% to US$48.8bn.

Read more from the original source:

Bitcoin and Ethereum: Will crypto markets stay afloat? - Proactive Investors USA