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In a downtrend, when markets do not respond negatively to bearish news, it is a sign that the selling may have reached exhaustion. Reports of electric vehicle maker Tesla dumping 75% of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings in the second quarter only caused a minor blip as lower levels attracted strong buying from the bulls.

Tesla was not the only institution that sold its Bitcoin. Arcane Research analyst Vetle Lunde highlighted in a Twitter thread that large institutions have sold 236,237 BTC since May 10.

It is encouraging to note that even after huge selling by institutions and the unfavorable macro environment, Bitcoin has held up quite well.

The current bear market allows an opportunity for new traders to enter at lower levels. A report published by Boston Consulting Group, Bitget and Foresight Ventures shows that only 0.3% of individual wealth is parked in crypto compared to 25% in equities. This shows that crypto is still in the early stages of adoption compared to legacy markets.

Could Bitcoin and major altcoins extend their recovery over the short term? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

It has been a volatile yet positive week for cryptocurrencies, as traders ignored the warnings from crypto winter veterans that there was more downside in store and jumped back into the market at the first sign of rising prices. 

Evidence for the reversal in sentiment can be found in the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which has climbed into the fear zone after spending a record time in the extreme fear territory due to collapsing prices in May and June.

As for what sparked the rally out of extreme fear, a closer look at the timeline points to the announcement of the expected date for the Ethereum Merge, which came on July 15.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that, following the Merge date revelation, the price of Ether (ETH) has climbed 38.5% from $1,190 to a daily high of $1,650 on July 22 amid an overall green day in the market.

Along with the climbing price of Ether, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has increased 15% over the past week to its current value of $1.051 trillion.

The previous $19,000 Bitcoin (BTC) support level becomes more distant after the 22.5% gain in nine days. However, little optimism has been instilled as the impact of the Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager, Babel Finance and Celsius crises remain uncertain. Moreover, the contagion has claimed yet another victim after Thai crypto exchange Zipmex halted withdrawals on July 20.

Bulls' hopes depend on the $23,000 support strengthening as time goes by, but derivatives metrics show professional traders are still highly skeptical of continuous recovery.

Macroeconomic headwinds favor scarce assets

Some analysts attribute the crypto market strength to China’s lower-than-expected gross domestic product data, causing investors to expect further expansionary measures by policymakers. China’s economy expanded 0.4% in the second quarter versus the previous year, as the country continued to struggle with self-imposed restrictions to curb another outbreak of COVID-19 infections, according to CNBC.

The United Kingdom's 9.4% inflation in June marked a 40-year high, and to supposedly aid the population, Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi announced a $44.5 billion (GBP 37 billion) assistance package for vulnerable families.

Under these circumstances, Bitcoin reversed its downtrend as policymakers scrambled to solve the seemingly impossible problem of slowing economies amid ever-increasing government debt.

The latest episode of Market Talks welcomes Nicholas Merten, the founder of DataDash, one of the largest cryptocurrency YouTube channels.

Merten is an international speaker, thought leader and crypto analyst. He has utilized his 10-plus years of experience in traditional markets to understand the potential of cryptocurrencies and help his 515,000 YouTube subscribers make better investment decisions.

One of the topics up for discussion with Merten isthe recent Bitcoin (BTC) price rally. Are the markets finally out of the sideways trend it’s been stuck in for months, or is this just another bull trap forming, with BTC to head back down below $20,000?

With all seasoned traders and experts eyeing the BTC 200-week moving average, Merten is asked the significance of this indicator and why many consider it to be so important. They also get into where he sees BTC heading in the near future, toward $30,000 or back down to $17,000?

Another topic up for discussion is whether retail investors are starting to rush back into the market — could that be playing a part in the price rally? Ether (ETH) has been performing exceptionally well recently, with more updates about its move from a proof-of-work protocol to proof-of-stake. Could Ether be the one leading the markets this time, as opposed to Bitcoin? The hosts will be taking a look at the ETH chart to get a better picture.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has been outperforming its arch-rival Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) during the current crypto market rebound with the ETC/ETH pairs at 10-month highs.

Why is ETC beating ETH?

ETC's price has risen to $27 on July 22, amounting to a 100% gain in nine days after bottoming out at $13.35. Comparatively, ETH's price has seen a 64% rally in U.S. dollar terms.

Ethereum's rebound has been among the sharpest among the top cryptocurrencies, primarily due to euphoria surrounding its potential network upgrade in September.

Dubbed "the Merge," the long-awaited technical update will switch Ethereum from proof-of-stake (PoS) to proof-of-work (PoS).

Moreover, it will replace miners with stakers. As a result, the PoS switch could force existing Ethereum miners to switch to PoW chains.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has been outperforming its arch-rival Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) during the current crypto market rebound with the ETC/ETH pairs at 10-month highs.

Why is ETC beating ETH?

ETC's price has risen to $27 on July 22, amounting to a 100% gain in nine days after bottoming out at $13.35. Comparatively, ETH's price has seen a 64% rally in U.S. dollar terms.

Ethereum's rebound has been among the sharpest among the top cryptocurrencies, primarily due to the euphoria surrounding its potential network upgrade in September.

Dubbed "the Merge," the long-awaited technical update will switch Ethereum from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS).

Moreover, it will replace miners with stakers. As a result, the PoS switch could force existing Ethereum miners to switch to PoW chains.

Bitcoin (BTC) took a step back as Wall Street trading began on July 22 after recovering most of its previous losses.

BTC bulls fail to sustain assault on multi-week high

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed BTC/USD encountering fresh resistance near $24,000.

The pair had spent the past 24 hours slowly clawing back lost ground after news that Tesla had sold most of its BTC holdings.

With the pre-announcement high of $24,280 still in force, bulls saw something of a setback as Wall Street opened on the day, with BTC/USD losing around $400.

Analyzing the current order book structure on major exchange Binance, on-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators warned that the overall bear market structure remained in control.

Bitcoin (BTC) took a step back as Wall Street trading began on July 22 after recovering most of its previous losses.

BTC bulls fail to sustain assault on multi-week high

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed BTC/USD encountering fresh resistance near $24,000.

The pair had spent the past 24 hours slowly clawing back lost ground after news that Tesla had sold most of its BTC holdings.

With the pre-announcement high of $24,280 still in force, bulls saw something of a setback as Wall Street opened on the day, with BTC/USD losing around $400.

Analyzing the current order book structure on major exchange Binance, on-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators warned that the overall bear market structure remained in control.