Decentral Block Post

The total crypto market capitalization rejected at $1.13 trillion on Feb. 16, but there was no change in the month-long ascending channel structure. More importantly, this level represents a 43% gain in 2023, which is far from the $3 trillion level achieved in Nov. 2021. Still, the current recovery is notable. 

As shown above, the ascending channel initiated in mid-January has left some room for a 10% correction down to $1 trillion without breaking the bullish formation.

Investors reacted positively to the 5.6% year-on-year U.S. CPI inflation increase on Feb. 14 and the 3% retail sales monthly growth on Feb. 15. Bitcoin (BTC) had the biggest positive impact on the total crypto capitalization as its price gained 12.5% on the week.

One area of concern is a Feb. 16 story on Binance.US financial transactions to Merit Peak, a trading firm managed by CEO Changpeng Zhao. Interestingly, Reuters reported that a Binance.US spokesperson said Merit Peak was "neither trading nor providing any kind of services on the Binance.US platform."

The 10.1% weekly increase in total market capitalization was held back by the modest 1.8% gains from BNB and the XRP 2.5% price increase. On the other hand, only 3 out of the top 80 cryptocurrencies finished the week with negative performances.

The total crypto market capitalization rejected at $1.13 trillion on Feb. 16, but there was no change in the month-long ascending channel structure. More importantly, this level represents a 43% gain in 2023, which is far from the $3 trillion level achieved in November 2021. Still, the current recovery is notable. 

As shown above, the ascending channel initiated in mid-January has left some room for a 10% correction down to $1 trillion without breaking the bullish formation.

Investors reacted positively to the 5.6% year-on-year U.S. Consumer Price Index inflation increase on Feb. 14 and the 3% retail sales monthly growth on Feb. 15. Bitcoin (BTC) had the biggest positive impact on the total crypto capitalization as its price gained 12.5% on the week.

One area of concern is a Feb. 16 story on Binance.US financial transactions to Merit Peak, a trading firm managed by CEO Changpeng Zhao. Interestingly, Reuters reported that a Binance.US spokesperson said Merit Peak was “neither trading nor providing any kind of services on the Binance.US platform.”

The 10.1% weekly increase in total market capitalization was held back by the modest 1.8% gains from BNB (BNB) and the XRP (XRP) 2.5% price increase. On the other hand, only three out of the top 80 cryptocurrencies finished the week with negative performances.

The upcoming Ethereum Shanghai hard fork is slated to occur in March 2023, and the upgrade will cap off the network’s move to proof-of-stake (PoS), which started during the Merge on Sept. 15, 2022. Once Shanghai is implemented, previously locked Ether (ETH) will gradually become liquid for the first time since December 2020. 

According to on-chain Etherscan data, over 16.6 million ETH is currently locked in the PoS staking protocol, which was valued at $28 billion on Feb. 16, 2023. Ethereum’s move from proof-of-work (PoW) to PoS has started to achieve the original goal, which was to make Ether’s supply deflationary. In the 154 days since the Merge, over 24,800 ETH has been burned to make the token 0.05% deflationary on a yearly basis.

On. Feb. 16, the total Ether supply sits at 120 million, meaning that a little over 10% of the supply will be unlocked, with yield rewards starting with the Shanghai update.

Let’s explore what on-chain metrics can help identify what may happen during the Shanghai upgrade.

A portion of locked ETH is liquid thanks to liquid staking derivatives

In order to benefit from yield rewards before the Shanghai update, investors had to lock their ETH and run a reliable node. The minimum staking requirement of 32 locked ETH is entirely illiquid, meaning traders had limited utility options for these coins.

Bitcoin (BTC) climbed back above $24,000 at the Feb. 17 Wall Street open as analysis favored “consolidation and continuation” higher.

Bitcoin faces key level to “break” bear trend

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD recovering some overnight losses after dipping to $23,369 on Bitstamp.

The pair had hit fresh six-month highs the day prior, these facing stiff resistance in the form of two weekly moving averages (MAs) and a heavy sell wall.

Scott Melker, the trader and podcast host known as “The Wolf Of All Streets,” stressed the importance of levels acting as lines in the sand for bulls.

“$25,212. I’ve been screaming about this number for weeks. A break above (ideally close) makes a higher high for the first time since $69,000,” he tweeted about the weekly chart on Feb. 16.