Bitcoin (BTC) kicked off the week with a surge, approaching $35,200 in early Monday trading after a weekend that ended on a high note.
Reacting to disappointing economic indicators from the U.S. on Friday, which reported a rise in the unemployment rate and a mere 150,000 new jobs in October—almost half that of the previous month—the leading cryptocurrency saw gains.
The lacklustre job growth numbers suggest a slowing down of the U.S. economy, strengthening the argument for a more lenient approach to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.
Amid expectations that the Federal Reserve might ease up on interest rate hikes, Bitcoin, often seen as a speculative asset, could see further positive price movements.
However, there are concerns that current trading volumes of bitcoin may be too low to maintain its current high price, even with the anticipation of physically-backed bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) potentially joining the stock market soon.
These bitcoin ETFs are expected to significantly boost market liquidity, although they face regulatory challenges that have yet to be overcome.
In spite of these uncertainties, the BTC/USDT trading pair stands strong, having soared over 110% in the year 2023 to date.
Over the weekend, Ethereum (ETH), ranking second in market capitalization among cryptocurrencies, experienced a significant uptick. It gained more than 3.3% from the end of last week, opening this morning at a trading price of $1,895.
After a period of struggling to surpass the 200-day moving average, Ethereum saw a bullish takeover, pushing its market value upward.
In other top-tier alternative coin developments, Solana (SOL) has seen its recent upward trend reverse amid worries about a potential large-scale sell-off prompted by actions from the FTX administration.
FTX administrators, who stepped in after the cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried fell apart last November, have reportedly transferred around $102 million worth of SOL tokens to Binance and Kraken, according to a report by CoinDesk today.
Such moves indicate that Solana, often dubbed the “Ethereum killer,” might face selling pressures soon.
At the moment of writing, the SOL/USDT trading pair is seeing prices a bit above $40.
Meanwhile, Ripple (XRP) has overtaken Solana in market attention, witnessing a remarkable 7% jump on Sunday and a subsequent increase of another 6% this morning.
Ripple Labs, the team behind XRP, seems to be on the brink of triumph in its long-standing legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a scenario that could positively influence the token’s trajectory.
Currently, the global cryptocurrency market capitalization is valued at $1.33 trillion, with Bitcoin’s market share hovering at approximately 52.8%.
