Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin (BTC) starts the last week of January in fine form after sealing its highest weekly close in five months. 

Despite opposition, the largest cryptocurrency is holding on to its newfound strength and continues to surprise market participants.

This is no mean feat — market sentiment has plenty to spook it and initiate a rethink among investors. Macro conditions remain uncertain, while within Bitcoin, research has highlighted whales on exchanges potentially moving prices artificially with huge amounts of liquidity.

Nonetheless, Bitcoin has seen its most impressive gains percentage-wise in over a year, and hopes remain that the good times will endure. What could that depend on?

Cointelegraph takes a look at some of the major factors to keep in mind as a January unlike any other draws to a close.

Cardano stake pool operators (SPO) and users have been reporting at least half of the nodes for the network briefly went offline over the weekend. 

According to a Jan. 22 post shared on the Telegram SPO for Input Output Global, the engineering and research fintech behind the Cardano blockchain, an anomaly caused 50% of Cardano nodes to disconnect and restart. 

“This appears to have been triggered by a transient anomaly causing two reactions in the node, some disconnected from a peer, others threw an exception and restarted,” the post said, explaining the sudden disruption.

Despite a momentary degradation, the Cardano network recovered without external intervention. As explained in the post, “such transient issues” were considered in the node design and consensus and “the systems behaved exactly as expected.”

During the anomaly, which happened between block 8300569 and 8300570, block production reportedly kept going but was slowed for a few minutes and the “impact was low, akin to the delays that occur during normal operations.”

This week Bitcoin (BTC) rallied to a 2023 high at $23,100 and the move followed a notable recovery in traditional markets, especially the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, which gained 2.9% on Jan. 20.

Economic data continues to boost investors' hope that the United States Federal Reserve will reduce the pace and length of interest rate hikes. For instance, sales of previously owned homes fell 1.5% in December, the 11th consecutive decline after high mortgage rates in the United States severely impacted demand.

On Jan. 20, Google announced that 12,000 workers were laid off, more than 6% of its global workforce. The bad news continues to trigger buying activity on risk assets, but Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, chief U.S. equity strategist at JPMorgan, expects weaker earnings guidance to "put downward pressure" on the stock market.

The fear of recession increased on Jan. 20 after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said that a soft recession should be tolerated if it meant bringing inflation down.

Some analysts have pegged Bitcoin's gains to Digital Currency Group filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — allowing the troubled Genesis Capital to seek the reorganization of debts and its business activities. But, more importantly, the move decreases the risk of a fire sale on Grayscale Investments assets, including the $13.3 billion trust fund Grayscale GBTC.

After nearly a 20% rally last week, Bitcoin (BTC) is on track to end this week with gains of roughly 10%. Bitcoin’s rally has improved sentiment and attracted buying in several altcoins. This sent the total crypto market capitalization firmly above the $1 trillion mark.

The strong recovery in Bitcoin has startled several analysts who remain skeptical about the rally. Some believe that the current rise is a dead cat bounce that will reverse direction sharply, while others see similarities between the current rally and the 2018 bear market recovery.

Although traders should be ready for any eventuality, the pace of the rise in Bitcoin does point to a possible major bottom. There are likely to be bumps down the road but the dips are likely to be aggressively purchased by traders.

Bitcoin’s sustained recovery may encourage buying in select altcoins.

Let’s study the charts of Bitcoin and select altcoins that are showing strength in the near term.

After nearly a 20% rally last week, Bitcoin (BTC) is on track to end this week with gains of roughly 10%. Bitcoin’s rally has improved sentiment and attracted buying in several altcoins. This sent the total crypto market capitalization firmly above the $1 trillion mark.

The strong recovery in Bitcoin has startled several analysts who remain skeptical about the rally. Some believe that the current rise is a dead cat bounce that will reverse direction sharply, while others see similarities between the current rally and the 2018 bear market recovery.

Although traders should be ready for any eventuality, the pace of the rise in Bitcoin does point to a possible major bottom. There are likely to be bumps down the road but the dips are likely to be aggressively purchased by traders.

Bitcoin’s sustained recovery may encourage buying in select altcoins.

Let’s study the charts of Bitcoin and select altcoins that are showing strength in the near term.