Decentral Block Post

The United States looks to avoid a catastrophic debt default after the White House and the House Republicans agreed upon a tentative deal on May 27. The U.S. equities markets rallied in anticipation of the deal on May 26 and the positive sentiment has rubbed off onto the cryptocurrency sector, which is attempting a recovery.

Buying is not limited to Bitcoin (BTC) alone as select altcoins are also showing signs of a short-term up-move. However, sustaining the rally at higher levels may prove to be difficult for the bulls.

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

After the debt ceiling deal, traders are likely to focus their attention on the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes. The hot Personal Consumption Expenditures data on May 26 increased the likelihood of a rate hike at the Fed’s June meeting. The probability of a 25 basis point rate hike has risen from 17% a week back to 64% on May 28, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Along with Bitcoin, what altcoins that are looking ripe for a short-term up-move? Let’s study the charts of these top five cryptocurrencies to spot the important levels to watch out for.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin has reached the overhead resistance zone between the 20-day exponential moving average ($27,146) and the support line of the symmetrical triangle. This zone is likely to witness a solid tussle between the bulls and the bears.

The market dominance of stablecoins pegged to the United States dollar has undergone some changes over the past year. While most of them are in a downward trend, Tether (USDT) has climbed back to its all-time high, data from CoinGecko shows.

In the past 12 months, Circle's USD Coin (USDC) has seen its market share decline from 34.88% to 23.05% at the time of writing. Market participation of Binance USD (BUSD) plunged from 11.68% to 4.18% in the same period, while Dai (DAI) held its participation rate at 3.66%, down from 4.05% in May 2022.

Tether's USDT is moving in a contrasting trend. The stablecoin market dominance currently sits at 65.89% from 47.04% one year ago. Its market capitalization soared to $83.1 billion, while the USDC market cap dropped to $29 billion from its $55 billion peak.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire blamed the crypto crackdown by the United States regulators for the stablecoin's declining market capitalization. The current environment in the United States appears to be beneficial for Tether.

USD Stablecoins by Market Dominance. Source: CoinGecko.

The U.S. banking crisis led to USDC depegging in March as reserves worth $3.3 billion were stuck at Silicon Valley Bank, one of three crypto-friendly banks shut down by regulators. Despite Circle's assurances, the market quickly responded to the news, causing USDC to depeg from the dollar.

Bitcoin (BTC) remains pinned below $27,000 and the recent weakness of the past few days has increased calls from analysts for a fall to the low $20,000 levels. While anything is possible, the bulls are unlikely to give up the $25,000 support without putting up a fight.

Glassnode’s lead on-chain analyst Checkmate said in his comments on May 24 that the Sell-side Risk Ratio metric suggests that “sellers are exhausted on both sides” and that indicates big moves “are coming.” The last time the Sell-side Risk Ratio was this low was in late 2015, which started the bull run that reached $20,000 in December 2017.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Another short-term positive is that market observers expect a debt ceiling deal to be reached and that has boosted the price of the United States equities markets on May 26. If the risk-on sentiment sustains, it could increase demand for Bitcoin and select altcoins.

What are the crucial resistance levels in Bitcoin and the major altcoins that need to be crossed for a sustained recovery to begin? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin bounced off $25,871 on May 25, close to the strong support zone of $25,811 to $25,250. The bulls will try to push the price to the 20-day exponential moving average ($27,173).

Just a day after an attacker sparked community-wide panic after hijacking the Tornado Cash governance, a new proposal hints at the possible restoration of the state of governance.

On May 21, the passing of a malicious proposal allowed an attacker to gain complete control over Tornado Cash’s governance. With total control over the governance of the decentralized crypto mixer, the attacker was in a position to inflict massive losses considering they could withdraw all of the locked votes, drain all of the tokens in the governance contract and brick the router.

While the story unfolded, community member Tornadosaurus-Hex or Mr. Tornadosaurus Hex, took proactive steps to minimize the potential damages by publishing a subsequent proposal requesting all members to withdraw all funds locked in governance, as shown below.

Tornado Cash community member's proposal for gaining control from attacker. Source: forums.tornadocash.community

However, Mr. Tornadosaurus Hex (Hex) was uncertain about the effectiveness of the new proposal considering the attacker’s grip over the mixer’s governance. A few hours into the hack, to everyone’s surprise, the attacker surprisingly reached out to the Tornado Cash community with a new proposal, hinting at their intent to give back the governance control.

Tornado Cash attacker's proposal to return governance control. Source: forums.tornadocash.community

As shown above, Hex communicated the attacker’s plan to the community stating that:

Inexperienced traders usually chase prices higher during the end of the bull phase as they fear missing out on the rally. However, institutional investors tend to wait for the froth to settle before entering. Bitcoin’s (BTC) bear market in 2022 ended the hype that was seen in 2021.

Fred Pye, CEO of 3iQ, Canada’s first Bitcoin fund issuer, said in an interview with Cointelegraph that as “the FOMO in Bitcoin is gone” institutional investors and portfolio managers have started to take a look at it as “a serious venue.”

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

While analysts are bullish for the long term, the short-term picture looks uncertain as the price is stuck inside a range for the past several days. Analysts expect a trending move to start either next week or the week after.

If Bitcoin breaks out to the upside, what are the altcoins that may follow it higher? Let’s analyze the charts of the top five cryptocurrencies that may rally in the short term.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin has been trading near the support line of the symmetrical triangle but the bulls have failed to push the price above it. This indicates that the bears are active at higher levels.