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A recent video from blockchain security firm CertiK made a series of “inaccurate” claims about a potential security vulnerability in Solana’s crypto-enabled Saga phone, Solana Labs has said. 

In a Nov. 15 post on X (formerly Twitter), CertiK claimed the Saga phone contained a “critical vulnerability” known as a “bootloader unlock” attack which would supposedly allow a malicious actor to install a hidden backdoor in the phone.

In a report sent to Cointelegraph, CertiK claimed the bootloader unlock would “allow an attacker with physical access to a phone to load custom firmware containing a root backdoor.”

“We demonstrate that this can compromise the most sensitive data stored on the phone, including cryptocurrency private keys,” CertiK’s report said.

However, a Solana Labs spokesperson told Cointelegraph that CertiK’s claims are inaccurate, and its video did not reveal any legitimate threat to the Saga device.

Guidelines for firms listing and delisting cryptocurrencies in New York have tightened up to better protect investors, according to the state’s financial regulator.

The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) unveiled new restrictions on Nov. 15 which mandate crypto companies submit their coin listing and delisting policies for NYDFS approval.

Company policies will be measured against more stringent risk assessment standards set forth by the NYDFS to protect investors. Technological, operational, cybersecurity, market, liquidity and illicit activity risks of the tokens are among the factors to be considered by the NYDFS.

The incoming changes apply to all digital currency business entities licensed under the New York Codes, Rules and Regulation or limited purpose trust companies under the state’s Banking Law. The NYDFS initially called for public feedback on the proposal in September.

Cryptocurrency firms with a previously approved coin listing policy are not permitted to self-certify any tokens until they submit to and receive approval from the NYDFS.

On Nov. 15, several altcoins continued to show strength alongside Bitcoin (BTC) price, which notched an intra-day high at $37,400. Leading into the week, dYdX, Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX) currently reflect double-digit gains, with each chasing after new year-to-date highs. 

The sustained bullish price action from altcoins has led some analysts to declare the arrival of an altcoin season and at the time of writing, the total market cap of the altcoin market has hit a 2023 high at $659.5 billion.

Altcoin price rallies typically involve a slew of factors, some being sentiment-based and others based on project fundamentals. Let’s look at a few of this week’s top market performers to see what catalysts underlie their growth.

dYdX fee switch boosts price

The platform behind the DYDX token is dYdX, which is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that offers futures contracts on EVM blockchains like Ether (ETH). On Oct. 27, dYdX launched its layer-1 blockchain with the creation of its genesis block, which operates using native DYDX tokens. The launch allowed for the on-chain distribution of all fees received to validators and stakers. The protocol update has been fantastic for the DYDX token price, sending it up over 110% in the past 30-days.

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Bitcoin (BTC) succumbed to profit-booking on Nov. 13 and 14, which pulled the price below $35,000. Corrections are a normal part of every up-move and are considered healthy as they shake out the weak hands and allow the stronger hands to add to their positions. 

A note of caution to the eager dip buyers is that Glassnode data shows the number of whale wallets with more than $1,000 Bitcoin dropped to its lowest level in about a month. This indicates that some whales may have sold into the recent strength.

DecenTrader co-founder Filbfilb said in an interview with Cointelegraph that a drawdown could come before the rally leading into Bitcoin halving in April 2024. Filbfilb believes Bitcoin could pick up pace after that and reach $46,000 to $48,000 by halving.

Could Bitcoin and the select altcoins resume their uptrend, or will higher levels attract solid selling by the bears?

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

Crypto firm Bakkt appears to be returning to digital asset custody as its primary business, adding support for six new coins, according to an announcement on Nov. 15. 

Aside from Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), Bakkt will expand its custodial support to include Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and USD Coin (USDC). The company expects to add more coins to its custodial services early next year.

The custody of digital assets focuses on the safeguarding of cryptographic keys, which are crucial for accessing and transferring assets. Various security measures are employed by custodians, such as Bakkt, to protect assets, including cold storage of coins and multi-signature technology that demands multiple approvals for access.

The announcement follows Bakkt's release of its quarterly earnings report on Nov. 14, when the company disclosed an adjusted EBITDA loss (non-GAAP) of $21.6 million, a 30% decrease year-over-year due to a reduction in compensation and benefits.

According to the report, Bakkt has seen its crypto revenue reach $191.8 million in the third quarter of 2023 thanks to the acquisition of Apex Crypto in April. Over the quarter, the company generated a total of $204.8 million in total revenue. In terms of assets under custody, Bakkt reported $505.7 million, a decrease of 28% over last year.

The price of a memecoin drawing its namesake from Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence project “Grok” plummeted over 70% after blockchain sleuth ZachXBT alleged the token’s social media account was recycled from a scam token project.

In a Nov. 13 X (formerly Twitter) post, ZachXBT shared screenshots showing various social media accounts and websites tied to the Grok (GROK) token were repurposed from old projects, including an abandoned memecoin project called ANDY, which has significantly declined from its all-time high.

In the five hours following ZachXBT’s post, memecoin enthusiasts watched as GROK plunged 74% from its all-time high of $0.027 to as low as $0.007. Its price has since retracted to $0.011, per DexTools data.

In a follow-up post, ZachXBT pointed to an Etherscan transaction showing GROK’s team sent roughly $1.7 million worth of the token to a burn address in a bid to reduce supply and restore confidence in the token.

The X account for the GROK token claimed in a Nov. 14 post that the development team had burned all of the tokens from the deployer address, some 180 million GROK worth roughly $2 million at current prices.

Solana’s native token, SOL (SOL), experienced a remarkable 58.6% surge in just five days, reaching a $64 high on Nov. 11. However, the subsequent two-day retracement of 11.3% to $54 has prompted investors to question whether this signals a fading bullish momentum or merely a temporary price adjustment.

To put SOL’s performance into context, it can be compared with other leading altcoins. Since its peak on Nov. 11, Avalanche’s AVAX (AVAX) has rallied by 17%, Ether (ETH) gained 1%, and BNB (BNB) traded down 2%. This comparison underscores that SOL has underperformed in the broader altcoin market. Therefore, the 5.5% daily decline on Nov. 13 is unlikely to be tied to macroeconomic or sector drivers, such as the potential approval of a spot BTC exchange-traded fund.

Solana remains a top contender in terms of performance and on-chain activity

Despite the recent decline in SOL’s price, a seven-day gain of 35% suggests that investors should not hastily adopt a bearish outlook, as this could merely be a natural correction following Solana’s significant outperformance. However, it’s essential not to disregard Solana network’s fundamentals, which include on-chain metrics and SOL’s derivatives markets. Excessive leverage use by traders could potentially lead to forced liquidations, especially in perpetual contracts or inverse swaps, where funding rates play a crucial role.

Perpetual contracts, also known as inverse swaps, carry an embedded rate that is typically charged every eight hours. A positive funding rate indicates that longs (buyers) are seeking more leverage, while the opposite situation arises when shorts (sellers) require additional leverage, leading to a negative funding rate.

The seven-day funding rate for SOL aligns with that of Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH, pointing to a slightly higher demand for leverage longs. The 0.4% weekly cost is standard, considering that cryptocurrency’s market capitalization has grown by 10.5% over the past two weeks, reaching $1.4 trillion, its highest level since May 2022.

Bitcoin (BTC) has risen more than 120% year-to-date, indicating that the crypto sentiment has improved significantly. Solid buying has resulted in a sharp increase in crypto wallets holding more than $1 million in Bitcoin this year from 23,795 on Jan. 1 to 81,925 currently, according to BitInfoCharts data.

After the substantial rally, Bitcoin could face headwinds in the near term as investors digest the macroeconomic data and events due this week. The Consumer Price Index data is set to be released on Nov. 14, followed by the Producer Price Index data on Nov. 15, and the Nov. 17 deadline to avoid a partial United States government shutdown could give rise to short-term volatility.

A short-term pullback is healthy for the long-term trend of the market. It is also likely to be viewed as a buying opportunity by traders as most analysts anticipate Bitcoin to rally in 2024, buoyed by the expectations of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund finally receiving regulatory approval.

Will Bitcoin and select altcoins start a short-term correction, or will the bulls maintain their buy pressure and clear the respective overhead resistance levels? Let’s analyze the charts to find out.

S&P 500 Index price analysis

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) snapped back from the neckline on Nov. 9, indicating that the bulls are buying on every minor dip.

Bitcoin (BTC) institutional investment vehicles have seen over $1 billion in new inflows in less than two months.

In its latest weekly report on Nov. 13, crypto asset management firm CoinShares furthered the narrative that Bitcoin and altcoins are again attracting capital.

Crypto institutional product AUM up 99% year-to-date

Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and some major altcoins are enjoying price gains as excitement over the possible approval of the United States’ first spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) grows.

Since November 2022, the total crypto market cap has increased by $600 billion, data from TradingView confirms.

The past two months, however, have seen a precipitous increase in funds being deployed to crypto investment products, CoinShares reveals.

Native asset settlement protocol THORChain has recorded the third-largest trading volume among decentralized exchanges in the last week, with users seemingly attracted to the high yield offered adjacent to its native token, RUNE (RUNE).

Over the last week, THORChain’s trading volume hit $1.32 billion, third only behind Uniswap and PancakeSwap at $10.85 billion and $2.77 billion, respectively, according to DefiLlama.

THORChain also boasts the second-largest trading volume at $334.3 million over the last 24 hours, nearly $50 million more than third-placed PancakeSwap.

Meanwhile, RUNE increased 51% over the last week and more than 200% over the last 30 days, according to CoinGecko.

THORChain’s rise past Curve Finance happened much earlier than what THORChain core developer Chad Barraford predicted, who initially estimated the flippening to happen before the end of 2023.

Bitcoin (BTC) is on target to end the week with gains of about 6%, indicating continued demand from the bulls. MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor said during a speech at the 2023 Australia Crypto Convention on Nov. 10 that Bitcoin’s demand on a monthly basis could surge between two to 10 times by the end of 2024. Additionally, the halving will reduce the supply by half. Saylor expects both these events will cause the price “to adjust up.” 

With almost a general consensus that Bitcoin’s price will move higher in 2024, analysts are busy projecting how high the rally could reach. Using its Terminal Price on-chain indicator, Look Into Bitcoin creator Philip Swift said that Bitcoin could hit at least $110,000 in its next bull cycle.

While Bitcoin continues to hog the limelight, several major altcoins have been charging higher. The broad-based cryptocurrency rally increases hopes that an altcoin season may be around the corner.

If the bullish sentiment sustains, altcoins may witness a rotation, wherein the high flyers face some profit booking, and the laggards start moving higher. Let’s look at the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that may outperform in the near term.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin has been holding above the ascending channel pattern for the past three days, indicating that the bulls are defending the breakout level.

The price of Solana (SOL) has soared 40% this week to establish a new 2023 high at around $58. 

That is Solana's best weekly performance since January 2023. Many factors have contributed to the gains, including a general cryptocurrency market uptrend led by Bitcoin ETF euphoria and growing appetite for risk overall.

FTX-dump fears fails to shake Solana bulls

Solana's rise coincides with the daily selling of 250,000-750,000 SOL tokens by FTX bankruptcy estate in the last two weeks.

The Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of 55.75 million SOL tokens in September 2023. The limited impact of these sales, due to some tokens being either vested or locked, and a weekly sale limit of $100 million, has transformed initial fears into investor enthusiasm.

For instance, Solana-focused funds, one of the barometers to gauge institutional flows in the SOL market, witnessed inflows worth $10.80 million in the week ending Nov. 3, according to CoinShares.

Solana's native token (SOL) experienced an impressive 22% surge on Nov. 10, breaking past the $54 mark for the first time since May 2022. Notably, this surge occurred amid the continuous selling of SOL tokens by FTX's bankruptcy estate. The Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of the failed exchange FTX assets, which included 55.75 million SOL in September 2023.

Investor enthusiasm for SOL's price increase may be attributed to the fact that some of the tokens from the bankruptcy proceedings are either vested or locked. Furthermore, there's a weekly sale limit of $100 million imposed as part of the FTX liquidation plan. In essence, the initial fear of asset liquidation has transformed into hope as investors realize the limited impact of the sales.

As trader and independent analyst 'Bluntz' aptly described the situation, SOL's resilience during the FTX bankruptcy token dump is impressive. The post on X, (formerly Twitter) adds a bullish case for SOL, stating,

"Once this seller is gone, I can only imagine how hard it's gonna pump."

SOL price has been fueled by solid demand for leverage longs

SOL's substantial 39% weekly gains have pushed its futures open interest to $745 million, the highest level since November 2021 when SOL achieved its all-time high of $260. Still, in futures markets, leverage longs and shorts are constantly matched, so it's crucial to examine SOL's funding rate for a more nuanced perspective.