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Here’s how Bitcoin (BTC) traders can profit whether its price move up or down 10% within 55 days.

Bitcoin options: Bracing for volatility

Traditional market analysts have started calling for a volatility spike due to the United States government debt discussion.

Moreover, signs of stress coming from the banking sector surprised investors after the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, reached its lowest level in 12 months at 101 on May 4.

Stock market and macro analyst Markets & Mayhem posted a chart from Deutsche Bank that correlates historical government spending and debt concerns with spikes in the stock market volatility.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the government may run out of cash by June if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling. According to the BBC, President Joe Biden has called a meeting of congressional leaders on the issue for May 9.

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week at the center of new crypto industry drama as the highest fees in two years pressure price action.

Downside volatility is greeting traders thanks to a full mempool, and explanations point the finger at multiple parties.

The largest exchange, Binance, is adding to the confusion, pausing BTC withdrawals several times over what it calls network “congestion.”

Amid the turmoil, BTC/USD is showing signs of strain, breaking down from $28,000 to threaten an exit of its broader trading range.

The events mark a flustered start to a week full of potential BTC price volatility catalysts. These come in the form of macroeconomic data releases, including the Consumer Price Index and Q1 earnings reports.

On May 6, Ethereum Foundation transferred nearly $30 million in Ether (ETH) to the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, causing jitters in the market about a potential selloff event.

ETH price fell 4.8% to $1,900 on the day, but the decline has been negligible so far amid a wider recovery trend.

ETH price holding key support

Ether's price recovered modestly to $1,920 on May 7 after testing its 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA; the red wave) near $1,850 as support a day ago.

Moreover, the price volatility dropped on Kraken in the said period, per the contracting Bollinger Bands Width in the chart below. That further shows traders' calm amid the Ethereum Foundation transfer.

Notably, the 50-day EMA has capped Ether's downside attempts so far in 2023, barring the early March selloff that saw the price briefly falling below the red wave. Meanwhile, testing it as support has prompted the ETH price to pursue a breakout above $2,000.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw fresh volatility on May 6 as low-liquidity weekend trading tested the mettle of its trading range.

Bitcoin "in limbo" despite volatili

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD shedding over $1,000, or 3%, in a matter of hours on the day.

The largest cryptocurrency saw livelier conditions typical of weekend trading while remaining unable to exit a broader corridor in place for many weeks.

Amid a lack of ammuniation to either clear $30,000 resistance or drop toward key trend lines near $25,000, BTC/USD frustrated market participants.

“Bitcoin really is in limbo right now and doesn't know what to do .. I am back out of a position and just waiting again for one side of this range to break to re enter,” popular trader Crypto Tony told Twitter followers.

Bitcoin (BTC) could be set for historic gains thanks to a simple trend line breakout, a popular trader hopes.

In a Twitter discussion on May 5, Titan of Crypto flagged a rare bull signal on the Bollinger Bands indicator for the Bitcoin monthly chart.

Bitcoin price may see "inexorable breakout"

BTC price action currently impacts sentiment in different ways across various timeframes. While observers are unsure about short-term moves, zooming out, consensus remains that Bitcoin’s upside mostly lies ahead as the block subsidy halving approaches.

When it comes to tracking what comes next, however, it may be enough to look at halving cycles past — specifically, volatility.

As Titan of Crypto notes, Bollinger Bands on monthly timeframes are setting up a repeat of a breakout event that has occurred only once in each cycle.

The price of Sui (SUI) has dropped sharply after its market debut across leading cryptocurrency exchanges.

On May 5, the SUI price was $1.26 per token, down about 70% from its record high of around $4, established two days ago on Binance.

Interestingly, on other exchanges like Kraken, the token’s market top was $1.60 or lower, suggesting it was in “price discovery” mode after the launch.

Still, SUI maintains its overall market gains, up nearly 1,200% from its market debut.

Early SUI price fundamentals

SUI’s initial uptrend drew support from traders who view Sui — a new entry into the long list of layer-1 blockchain projects — as potentially more scalable than its rivals.

Bitcoin (BTC) eyed a reclaim of further lost ground on May 5 as $30,000 remained in play. 

BTC price action rebounds from stocks slump

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it spiked to $29,529 on Bitstamp — a new May high.

The pair had dipped with United States equities at the Wall Street open the day prior, but the weakness was short-lived as $29,000 support returned.

Ongoing market jitters from the U.S. banking crisis, now impacting several regional banks, continued to shape observer sentiment.

“100% of all regional banks in the United States have their stocks in the red today, for the first time ever,” crypto media account Whalewire noted on Twitter.

Bitcoin (BTC) slid below $29,000 around the May 4 Wall Street open as United States equities showed jitters over the resurgent banking crisis.

“Too much all at once” for U.S. banks

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD losing ground as the S&P 500 shed 0.7%.

The risk asset comedown accompanied more mayhem for U.S. regional bank stocks, with PacWest Bancorp once again leading the way, falling over 50% on the day.

The embattled lender had already seen major losses and, at the time of writing, was down 86.5% year-to-date. In a statement, the bank nonetheless described its position as “solid.”

As Cointelegraph reported, reassurances of U.S. authorities over the banking system stability appeared at odds with reality for many commentators, with confusion only increasing as the crisis continued.

For the past 14 days, cryptocurrency markets have been trading within an unusually tight 7.1% range. In other words, investors are unwilling to place new bets until there’s additional regulatory clarity, especially in the United States.

The total crypto market capitalization fell by 1% to $1.2 trillion over the seven days ending May 4, primarily as a result of Bitcoin’s (BTC) 1.1% price decline, Ether’s (ETH) 0.2% loss and BNB (BNB) trading down 1.4%.

Notice that the exact same $1.16 trillion–$1.22 trillion total market capitalization range previously stood for 12 days between March 29 and April 10. The conflicting forces: regulatory uncertainty weighing it down and the banking crisis pushing prices upward are likely the reason for the lack of risk appetite on both sides.

SEC’s crypto crackdown could backfire

The Coinbase exchange, for instance, has been battling the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the need for clear rules for trading digital assets. The stakes were raised after the exchange was handed a Wells notice, a “legal threat” for “possible violations of securities laws,” on March 22.

However, the latest decision has been favorable to Coinbase, as the court has instructed the SEC to clarify the security rules for digital assets within 10 days.

Bitcoin (BTC) reclaimed $29,000 overnight into May 4 as the United States banking crisis risked spawning new victims.

Gold, Bitcoin benefit from U.S. banking mayhem

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a swift mood change for BTC/USD, which hit $29,242 on Bitstamp.

The pair had sunk to daily lows at the previous day’s Wall Street open as markets awaited the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.

At the same time, more U.S. regional bank stocks were suffering, with the trend remaining as the Fed confirmed its much-anticipated 0.25% hike.

One lender, PacWest Bancorp, reportedly announced that it was considering a buyout, pressuring the regional bank sector even further while boosting havens, including Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin (BTC) price has successfully defended the $28,000 support on May 2, but has yet to prove the strength needed to reclaim the $29,200 level from April 30.

$30K becomes crucial for Bitcoin bulls

Some analysts will pin the recent downtrend to the expectation of an interest rate increase by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) on May 3, but in reality, the market is pricing 92% odds of a modest 25 basis point increase to its highest level since September 2007.

As the market intelligence platform Decentrader pointed out, the comments from Fed chairman Jerome Powell are more likely to bring surprise elements, either pointing to further measures to slow down the economy or signaling higher odds of the terminal interest rate being close to 5%. Powell is set to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

From an employment perspective, the central bank has reason to believe that the market continues to overheat. The U.S. government reported 1.6 job openings for every unemployed worker in March. Moreover, according to the ADP National Employment report released on May 3, private payrolls increased by 296,000 jobs in April, well above the 148,000 market consensus.

However, raising interest rates has negative consequences for families and small businesses, in particular. Financing and mortgages become more costly, while investing in fixed income becomes more attractive. Such an undesired effect of curbing inflation could further shake the core of the financial system, as shown by the latest bank failure of First Republic Bank.

New meme-coin Pepe (PEPE) has entered a sharp correction phase after surging by more than 2,000% since its debut a few weeks ago.

On May 3, the PEPE price dropped to $0.00000089, down about 35% from its record high of $0.00000138 established two days ago. As a result of the correction, its market capitalization slipped by nearly $80 million, thus pushing it out of the top-100 top cryptocurrency index. 

A mix of technical and fundamental indicators hint at further downside for PEPE price. 

Retail interest falls

PEPE's daily trading volumes declined across centralized (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) as prices fell. The same happened to the Google trends for the keyword "Pepe Coin," whose score is down from 100 to 7 in a day, suggesting that the retail hype has subsided in the past 48 hours.

PEPE whale distribution is worrisome

The top 100 richest PEPE addresses, aka "whales," control 45% of the token's circulating supply, according to data tracked by CoinCarp.com.

Bitcoin (BTC) hit daily lows at the May 3 Wall Street open as markets counted down the hours to the Federal Reserve interest rate decision.

Fed set to hike into banking crisis

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $28,152 on Bitstamp, down 2.2% from the day’s highs.

The pair continued volatility into the May 3 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the event that accompanies interest rate adjustments.

As Cointelegraph reported, market sentiment has priced in a 90%+ chance of the Fed hiking 0.25% to copy its March moves, with little expectations of a surprise instead.

The odds of the hike materializing stood at 83% at the time of writing, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, around 15% lower than the previous day.

Litecoin (LTC) can make some big gains versus Bitcoin (BTC), particularly as the August halving event gets closer, according to Litecoin's creator Charlie Lee.

Litecoin up 85% since record lows versus Bitcoin

Lee argues that LTC/BTC could rally to 0.025 BTC, or over 700%, in the next bull cycle, with Litecoin having "higher throughput by design, scalability with extension blocks, better fungibility, and privacy from MWEB."

Lee:

"I can see an upside target of 10% (0.025 LTC/BTC). In the next bull market, 5% (0.0125) shouldn't be too hard to achieve. I honestly don't see it going much below 1% (0.0025) on the downside. The next halving will be in ~92 days. This is going to be fun."

His statements appeared after Litecoin's 85% price recovery from its record low of 0.001716 BTC in June 2022. LTC is still down about 90% below its record high of 0.051 BTC from November 2013, owing to rising competition in the altcoin market.

Bitcoin (BTC) miners have profited roughly 37% from mining Bitcoin since its inception, new data reveals.

Calculations from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode suggest that since 2010, fees and block reward subsidies have netted miners over $50 billion.

Bitcoin miner revenue passes $50 billion mark

Amid an ongoing debate over miner costs and susceptibility to Bitcoin price dips, new figures suggest that miners are firmly in the black in the long term.

According to Glassnode, miners’ total all-time income is almost 40% higher than their estimated costs, coming in at $50.2 billion versus $36.6 billion, respectively.

Researchers generated the numbers using two metrics: thermocap and transaction fees, which are “the cumulative sum of issuance multiplied by spot price in addition to all-time generated fee revenue” and difficulty production cost.