THE cryptocurrency market seems at a turning point after several positive weeks. This can largely be attributed to the recent report on US non-farm payrolls, which showed a stronger job growth provided that. Consequently, market sentiment has turned bearish and investors are now wondering how high Bitcoin and Ethereum prices could go.
In this article, we will take a look at some of the current price predictions for Bitcoin and Ethereum, and discuss factors that could influence their future performance.
US non-farm payrolls break records
The U.S. Department of Labor recently reported that after accounting for seasonal changes, there were an increase of 517,000 non-farm jobs in January. According to economists’ forecasts, an increase of 170,000 jobs was expected. Hourly earnings for the month rose 0.3% from the previous month, in line with the consensus estimate.
The rate of wage growth slowed from 4.8% in December to 4.4% in January, from an estimated 4.3%. This is down from the previous year’s figures.
The average working time increased to 34.7 hours over the past month, an increase of 0.3% compared to the previous period. Meanwhile, total aggregate weekly hours jumped a significant 1.2% to 115.6.
As the economic situation in the United States improves, the US dollar strengthens against other world currencies. This increase affected the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum at the same time, causing them to fall. The Federal Reserve’s decision on a likely rate hike also contributed to this development.
Will Craig Wright’s lawsuit take place in 2023?
Craig Wright sued Bitcoin developers to get them to hand over the crypto assets and change the code. This case is likely to go to court, according to a February 3 report from Reuters. Craig Wright is suing 15 software developers for gaining access to 111,000 bitcoins worth around $2.5 billion.
According to Wright’s claims, the hack he suffered in the past prevented him from mining cryptocurrency from certain addresses without these keys. Reports have suggested that one of the addresses linked to Craig Wright may hold the missing funds from the Mt. Gox hack, which he denied.
If Wright wins his lawsuit, the software developers could be forced to create patches to help Tulip Trading recover any losses suffered.
Wright has been taking this case to the UK courts for a few months. She was rejected last year, but The UK Court of Appeal today ruled that developers may now have duties to blockchain owners.
Judge Colin Birss recently ruled that Tulip had a valid point about cryptocurrency being entrusted to developers, who could be mandated to move the user’s Bitcoin to a safer location for security purposes.
James Ramsden, attorney for some of the developers who are appealing their cases, said his clients were worried. Not only could this force them to pay money out of pocket, but it will also have a potential ripple effect across the blockchain industry.
Craig Wright previously sparked cryptocurrency speculation after claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. This has caused a lot of debate and controversy in the crypto space. Despite his early involvement in Bitcoin, he used his position in several legal battles, many and varied.
The price of bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) is currently priced at $23,350 with a 24-hour trading volume of $25 billion. It ranks first on CoinMarketCap and has a market cap of over $449 billion.
Bitcoin is in a downward trend and its immediate support zone sits at $23,300. If this level is crossed, he could suffer further losses of up to $23,000a potential support level marked by a rising trendline.
According to the RSI and MACD indicators, the selling pressure could increase and consequently push the price of BTC lower to reach $22,750 as the next support zone.
Currently, the 50-day moving average is still showing a bullish trend above $23,300 for BTC: so we might see a rebound soon. If the price breaks above $23,950 on the upside, then it could easily go up to $24,500.
The price of Ethereum
The current trading price of Ethereum is $1,650 and the 24-hour trading volume stands at $7.6 billion. The crypto asset has seen an increase of 0.50% in the past 24 hours.
Ethereum’s value dropped significantly after failing to break above the $1,700 resistance level. The sudden drop was probably due to the fact that investors opted to take profits as Ethereum was in an overbought position and had already completed a 50% Fibonacci retracement at $1,635.
If ETH price fails to stay above $1635, it may drop to $1,615which is the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level.
Ethereum’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicators both fell to 56 and 0.40 respectively this morning, indicating that ETH may not be no longer in a state of overbought. The 50-day exponential moving average also suggests a potential uptrend with prices breaking above the $1,620 level.
Ethereum is currently facing resistance levels around $1,650 and $1,680. If these thresholds are successfully crossed, Ethereum could see its price rise to a new resistance level around $1,720.
Alternative cryptocurrencies to follow
Cryptonews Reviewed top 10 cryptocurrencies for 2023. If you are looking for a higher potential investment opportunity, there are many other projects worth considering.
Disclaimer: This linked article presents the views of crypto industry players and is not part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com.
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