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Hopes of approval for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission boosted Bitcoin’s price by 27% in October. This improved sentiment, attracting aggressive buying by crypto investors.

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), the first futures-based ETF to get regulatory consent in the U.S. in 2021, saw its second biggest trading week ever at $1.7 billion. Similarly, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) recorded a volume of $800 million. The sharp uptick in volume in the existing instruments shows that spot Bitcoin ETFs are likely to witness huge volumes when they see the light of the day.

When the leader starts performing, it generally lifts the entire sector. That is seen in the strong performance of altcoins, which have risen sharply from their multi-year lows.

However, after the initial rally, some altcoins will struggle to maintain their up-move while a few will lead the markets higher. It is better to stick with the leaders as they are most likely to outperform during the next crypto bull phase.

Let’s look at the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that may extend their rally in the next few days.

Solana Labs unveiled an all-new incubator program for project development on the Solana blockchain on Oct. 26. 

Title simply “Solana Incubator,” the program will offer fundraising, development, networking, and marketing support for web and blockchain projects seeking to build on Solana’s platform.

The Solana Incubator will accept applications through Nov. 30. Those accepted will purportedly receive support from the Solana Labs team and its partners throughout the development, marketing, and launch phases of their projects.

According to Emon Motamedi, Product Manager at Solana Labs:

“Our priority with the Incubator program is to remove the biggest obstacles currently facing founders, including barriers around Web3 integrations and fundraising, so that these teams can spend their time on what they do best: solving the burning problems of their users. By providing founders with the resources they need to succeed, we hope to not only bring more sustainable businesses to the Solana ecosystem, but to also help grow the Web3 industry as a whole."

More than $280 billion has been wiped from the “magnificent seven” tech stocks following the release of several earnings reports on Oct. 25, triggering fears of a looming tech recession.

The so-called “magnificent seven” refers to the top seven blue-chip tech firms including Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia, and Tesla — who combine to make up a quarter of the value of the S&P 500 index.

Google parent company Alphabet saw its share price fall over 9%, wiping $180 billion from its market cap and was noted as Google’s worst-performing day since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

The share prices of Amazon, Nvidia, and Meta fell 5.5%, 4.3%, and 4.2% respectively, according to Y Charts.

Apple and Tesla’s fall in share prices were less severe at 1.35% and 1.9%, while Microsoft was the only one of the seven to buck the trend, with its share price rising 3.1% after reporting better-than-expected growth in its Azure business.

Bitcoin (BTC) easily soared above the $31,000 to $32,400 resistance zone on Oct. 23, which came as a suprise to many market participants. Usually, the price tends to consolidate or hesitate near stiff overhead resistance levels but that was not the case this time around.

Market participants are bullish as they anticipate a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund to receive approval sooner rather than later. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Oct. 23 that the listing of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) was “all part of the process” of bringing the ETF to market. He added that it was “hard not to view this as them getting signal that approval is certain/imminent.” However, a DTCC spokesperson later said that the listing of the said ETF has been there since August and it being there does not signal any regulatory approval.

The rush to buy Bitcoin before the consent for a spot Bitcoin ETF is received is because analysts expect the prices to surge after the green light is received. Galaxy Digital research associate Charles Yu said in a blog post that Bitcoin’s price may rally by 74.1% in the first year after an ETF is launched in the United States.

Is the recent rally in Bitcoin the beginning of a sustained strong up-move, or is it time to book profits? How will altcoins behave as Bitcoin price shows strength?

Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Major crypto exchanges recorded a net outflow on Oct. 24 as Bitcoin price briefly touched the $35,000 mark for the first time in a year. The movement of funds away from exchanges is considered a bullish sign as traders move their assets away from the centralized platforms in anticipation of a price surge.

According to data shared by crypto analytic firm Coinglass, Binance saw the biggest outflow with over $500 million moving off the exchange over the past 24 hours followed by crypto.com with $49.4 million in outflow followed by OKX with $31 million in outflow. Most other exchanges recorded below $20 million outflow.

Outflow from crypto platforms in recent times has led to “bank run” fears after the FTX collapse in November, however, the most recent outflow is more in line with trader sentiment than fear-induced withdrawals during the peak bear market. Glassnode data confirms that the Bitcoin outflow from exchanges over the past couple of days has risen in tune with the price surge of Bitcoin.

Related: BTC price nears 2023 highs — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

The price surge also led to the liquidation of millions worth of short positions with total liquidations amounting to $400 million. Over the last 24 hours, 94,755 traders saw derivative positions liquidated. The largest single liquidation order happened on Binance, worth $9.98 million.

The crypto community has been left fearing the worst after seeing huge sums of liquidity drained from the cryptocurrency project Safereum just hours after its team had finalized a massive $600,000 fundraising.

According to blockchain security firm CertiK and other analysts, the developers of Safereum — using the token deployment address “safereum.eth” — unlocked the supply of the token and dumped more than 600 Ether (ETH) worth of its holdings, causing the price of the Safereum (SAFEREUM) token to plunge more than 94%.

The so-called rug pull came after the team finalized a fund raise of approximately $600,000 for a derivative token called “Safepad.” These funds are understood to have constituted part of the total stolen sum, which totaled roughly 720 ETH — worth $1.27 million at current prices.

CertiK noted that the illegitimate funds had since been distributed through a series of wallets, further obfuscating the surveillance process.

The official Safereum account on X (formerly known as Twitter) has also been deleted.

October is proving to be a solid month for Bitcoin (BTC) as the price is nearing the 2023 high at $31,805. Generally, major resistances are not cleared in the first instance as the bears come out in full force to guard the level. Therefore, a minor dip is to be expected, but that should not be considered as the start of a negative sentiment.

Buyers regroup at lower levels and try to form a higher floor. That triggers further buying and starts a rally. This is a possibility in Bitcoin but risks remain. While the cooling of the United States dollar index (DXY) is a positive sign, the weakness in the S&P 500 Index (SPX) is a negative sign.

Another risk to the rising cryptocurrency markets could come from the surging 10-year Treasury yield which once again rose above 5%. The rise in the yields show that the market participants are losing hope that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the near future.

Could the frustration from the U.S. equities markets drive investors to the cryptocurrency markets? Will Bitcoin decouple from the S&P 500 Index and extend its up-move? Let’s analyze the charts to find out.

S&P 500 Index price analysis

The bears successfully held the retest of the neckline of the head and shoulders pattern in the S&P 500 Index. The failure to shove the price above the 50-day simple moving average (4,382) attracted aggressive selling by the bears.

Bitcoin (BTC) hit new three-month highs on Oct. 23 as the week’s first Asia trading session produced snap gains.

Bitcoin bulls face crunch BTC price resistance

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price adding momentum to reach $30,944 on Bitstamp.

The largest cryptocurrency saw its first weekly close above $30,000 since the summer, going on to tackle levels closer to key long-term resistance. This included the 2023 high, currently at $31,800.

“Bitcoin is back at key resistance for the third time in 6 months,” popular trader Jelle responded in one of the day’s X posts.

“Time to be cautious, but I don't think you want to be bearish here just because we're reaching resistance. The level will eventually give in -- and the move will be explosive. Tick... Tock…”

Bitcoin (BTC) had a good week with prices rising about 10% to reach the psychologically important level of $30,000. After the rally, the question troubling investors is whether the uptrend will continue or is time for a reversal to happen.

Trading team Stockmoney Lizards recently said that Bitcoin may soon break above its overhead resistance and start a sharp rally. They believe the approval for the exchange-traded fund will drive mass adoption and trigger the rally before the halving due in April 2024.

A positive development this week was that Bitcoin’s strength rubbed off to several altcoins, which surged above their respective overhead resistance levels. This suggests that the sentiment is gradually turning positive and that it may be time to consider buying selectively.

Typically, the coins that lead the markets higher are the ones that tend to do well. Laggards are generally the last to perform, hence could be avoided initially.

Let’s look at the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that may outperform in the near term.

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams burned 99% of the HayCoin (HAY) supply on Oct. 20, according to an announcement on X (formerly Twitter). The majority of the tokens have been removed from circulation due to Adams’ concerns about price speculation over the previous days.

Adams deployed the HAY token for testing five years ago, before the launch of the decentralized protocol Uniswap. He created a small test liquidity pool with a tiny fraction of the total supply and kept over 99.9% of HAY tokens in his wallet. Just a few weeks ago, the token was trading like a memecoin in the six-figure range:

"Over the years, a few people have noticed it and bought it as a joke/for the novelty of it. Was extremely surprised to see people buying and selling significant dollar amounts this past week, treating it like a memecoin. Crypto can be weird sometimes."

According to Adam's post, about $650 billion worth of HAY tokens were burned. The Uniswap’s founder dubbed price speculation as "silly," noting that he does not want his profile picture associated with the token:

"Ultimately, I’m uncomfortable owning almost the entire supply (~99.99%) of a token that people are memeing and speculating on, so I decided to burn the full amount in my wallet (”valued” at an absurd ~$650b)."

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $30,000 on Oct. 20, indicating that the path of least resistance is to the upside. Grayscale Investments filing a new application with the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission for a new spot Bitcoin ETF may have acted as a bullish trigger.

In another positive news for the cryptocurrency space, the SEC sought to dismiss all claims against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chair Chris Larsen. This will increase expectations that the regulator may slow down its attack on the cryptocurrency entities due to a string of recent setbacks.

As the market sentiment improves, Bitcoin’s long-term holders (LTHs) have been increasing their Bitcoin stockpile. Glassnode data shows that 76.2% of the available Bitcoin is locked up in long-term storage. This is likely to cause a supply crunch in the market, which is bullish for Bitcoin’s price.

Could Bitcoin maintain its momentum and rise higher? Will the altcoins also follow? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin broke and closed above the $28,143 resistance on Oct. 16 and the bulls held the level successfully during the retest on Oct. 17 and 18. This indicates that the buyers flipped the level into support.

Ripple’s new win in the legal battle against the United States securities regulators has been marred for crypto enthusiasts by news of the blockchain platform LBRY shutting down operations, which has triggered the community to react.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its intention to dismiss all claims against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chair Chris Larsen on Oct. 19. The event marked a significant legal win for Ripple in the civil case filed by the SEC in late 2020.

On the same day, LBRY, a major blockchain file-sharing and payment network, announced the termination of its operations, citing “several million dollars” in debts owed to the SEC, its legal team and a private debtor. LBRY’s creators are known for building Odysee, an open-source video-sharing website that uses the network, aiming to bring a decentralized alternative to major video platforms like YouTube.

The SEC filed a lawsuit against LBRY in March 2021, accusing the firm of similar securities law violations to those it brought against Ripple. Even after the SEC downgraded the $22 million penalty against LBRY to around $111,000, the firm eventually decided not to continue its appeal against the SEC.

“Whilst we celebrate another massive win for Ripple, let's not forget the damage the SEC has already done to crypto,” prominent XRP influencer, Ashley Prosper, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Oct. 19. The crypto enthusiast expressed hope that the LBRY app and its eponymous native token would rise again due to the “rampant censorship on X and the ever-present censorship on YouTube.”