Bitcoin Market Update

Bitcoin (BTC) and other major tokens lost more than 3% as Thursday’s rally was met with profit-taking during Asian morning hours on Friday — in line with expectations.

Overall crypto market capitalization fell 3.2% in the past 24 hours, with BTC sliding from $86,000 to under $84,000, Ether (ETH) dropping below $2,000, and Solana’s SOL falling 5%.

XRP showed steady declines, bringing Wednesday’s 10% spike to a 4.8% gain on a weekly basis, while BNB Chain’s BNB continued to edge higher, bringing weekly gains to over 8%.

At press time, Tron’s TRX and TON were the only major tokens in the green, both rising by 2%.

TRX was floated on Solana for the first time ever late Thursday in an attempt to expand its user base. TON saw retail demand after the Toncoin Foundation announced that venture capital firms now hold over $400 million worth of the asset following fresh investments.

Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting provided a brief upside catalyst that markets had been waiting for, propelling BTC past $85,000 as no rate cuts were announced. However, the Fed stated it would scale back its “quantitative tightening” program starting in April, which traders likely interpreted as an indirect rate cut, noted Singapore-based QCP Capital in a Telegram broadcast. Options markets have begun to position accordingly.

Dr. Sean Dawson, head of research at onchain options platform derive.xyz, told CoinDesk in an email, “The chance of BTC reaching above $100K by June 30 has increased from 20% to nearly 30% in the last 24 hours.” He added, “While the probability of ETH remaining above $2000 by June 30 is now a coin flip — it was 40% 24 hours ago. Nearly 60% of ETH options traded on Derive.xyz in the last 24 hours were calls bought, indicating bullish sentiment. For BTC, 34% of all volume was bought, reflecting demand for downside protection.”

FxPro’s Alex Kuptsikevich, observing the $80,000 support level as critical, maintained a cautious tone. “It’s important to note that the crypto market has yet to break above its 200-day moving average, currently sitting close to $2.9 trillion. A strong rally above this level could trigger an active buying phase but there’s also a risk of bears setting up a trap, as they’ve done several times before,” Kuptsikevich commented in a Telegram message.

“For bitcoin to maintain momentum, staying above this key level is crucial. If it does, it could spark renewed interest in buying a variety of coins that have been in a correction phase for a while,” he added, referring to the broader altcoin and memecoin markets.