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Bitcoin rose to $77,400, rising alongside other risk assets after earnings reports from America’s largest tech companies helped stabilize markets.
The gains came after Apple (AAPL) joined its peers with an earnings report that lifted sentiment across the industry. The companies, which include Google parent Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META) and Amazon (AMZN), reported double-digit revenue growth earlier this week.
Earnings reports helped risk assets rise as renewed confidence in the AI growth story sent investors back into equities and cryptocurrencies, although the bounce so far reflects relief buying rather than conviction that a new rally has begun.
In a note shared with CoinDesk, cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin said the market is grappling with “near-term pressures with structural factors still mixed,” including lower hopes for rate cuts, ETF outflows and increased geopolitical risk.
Cryptocurrency prices held up this week even as oil rose and spot bitcoin ETFs recorded more than $400 million in outflows in late April.
Oil remains a key factor. Higher crude oil prices due to the conflict with Iran and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz could fuel inflation, making central banks less willing to cut interest rates. That can hurt cryptocurrencies and other risk assets by making cash and bonds more attractive.
The Federal Reserve kept rates between 3.50% and 3.75% this week, although the four dissenting voices are the most numerous since 1992. Bitcoin Market said the decision and the absence of clear signs of a rate cut led markets to reevaluate policy expectations.
“In the near term, the market should remain volatile and very reactive to economic data,” said the company’s head of research, Rony Szuster. “In the medium term, the structure remains dependent on the stabilization of institutional flows and the trajectory of global monetary policy.”
Jerome Powell’s Fed chairmanship ends on May 15 and Kevin Warsh is expected to chair the June FOMC meeting, which could induce volatility given Warsh’s favor of tightening monetary policy.
The key test remains $80,000. A breakout could attract new buyers, while a failed move could trigger selling if leveraged long positions are liquidated. Stay alert!
Read more: For an analysis of current activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today. For a complete list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
What is trend?
Today’s sign
The weekly bitcoin price chart is testing rejection at the $80,000 resistance zone, with the RSI showing early signs of a bullish divergence (the price made a lower low while the RSI remained higher), although it was not confirmed on a weekly close.
If not broken out, the price remains range-bound between the 200-day exponential moving average of about $68,000 and that level.
