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Bitcoin (BTC) erased early-month gains on March 2 as fresh market uncertainty erupted over solvency of crypto bank Silvergate.

BTC price avoids Silvergate, Coinbase stock slip

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $23,206 on Bitstamp, down around 1.5% on the day.

The pair came under pressure as rumors swirled over the fate of Silvergate, which lost United States exchange Coinbase as a client in a decision the latter said came out of "an abundance of caution."

Silvergate had suffered as a result of the FTX implosion, delaying its 10-K report this week and warning that it could be "less than well capitalized." 

The shares of parent company Silvergate Capital were down 40% on the day at the time of writing.

In Cointelegraph Markets Pro’s latest VORTECS™ Report, the institutional-grade crypto trading platform displayed how its members could have captured a cumulative 223% gain by following five trades based on three different Markets Pro indicators. The report depicts trading alerts generated between February 12 – 18, 2023. 

The potential gains available to Cointelegraph Markets Pro subscribers significantly outperform a simple buy-and-hold strategy during the same period, which would’ve yielded a maximum return of 13% for Bitcoin (BTC) and 12% for Ethereum (ETH).

Cointelegraph Markets Pro used the VORTECS™ Score, NewsQuakes™ and Tweet Volume indicators to alert subscribers of these price changes before they occurred. In a previous article, it was explained how using these alerts in conjunction with indicators can help traders find higher-probability trades on a consistent basis.

VORTECS™ Alerts

1. HXRO — 100% gain

The biggest gainer last week came from a VORTECS™ Score alert on HXRO. The asset was trading at $0.10 when a string of VORTECS™ Scores as high as 95 lit green. Scores this high emphasize that current conditions for the token strongly resemble bullish trends from the past.

Four days later, the price skyrocketed to $0.20, an incredible increase of 100%!

Bitcoin (BTC) is up 42% since the start of 2023, but short term, the outlook may now favor the bears.

The latest data paints a problematic picture for BTC price action — investors are greedy, but the mainstream is far from ready to buy.

After January’s 40% surge, BTC/USD is having trouble reaching for resistance higher up the chart.

As Cointelegraph reported, the pair spent the whole of February simply consolidating its prior gains, making it likely the least volatile month on record.

Judging by current moves, however, that consolidatory phase may soon be over — but not work out in bulls’ favor.

The price of Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), shows a growing conflict among traders about the market direction for March. This uncertainty has resulted in ETH price consolidating inside a narrow sideways range between $1,600 and $1,700 since Feb. 15.

25% ETH price correction on the table in March

The uncertainty stems from Ethereum’s long-awaited Shanghai upgrade going live sometime in March.

Several analysts predict the upgrade, which will enable stakers to withdraw their vested tokens from Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) smart contract, will trigger a short-term sell-off event. 

The Ethereum PoS smart contract has attracted more than 17.4 million ETH (~$28.35 billion at the current exchange rate) since its introduction in December 2020, per Etherscan.

In addition, Ether is finding it difficult to break above the technical resistance range. The Ethereum token has attempted to flip the $1,650–1,700 area to support multiple times since August 2022, as shown by the red bar in the chart below.