Crypto news: Bitcoin hopes arise 📈 Another week with higher volatility? 🏎

Cryptocurrencies are likely to face another high-volatility week as the financial results of technology companies Microsoft (Tuesday), Tesla (Wednesday) and Intel (Thursday) will almost certainly affect sentiment and the movements of the indices (mostly tech stocks) with which cryptocurrencies correlate. 

• Cryptocurrencies are riding a wave that leads bulls to believe that the Fed will ease upward pressure on interest rates and help risk assets rebound. It still remains very uncertain whether a soft Fed along with a mild recession will really materialize;
• BTC's rises have made investors' stress about repaying the MT Gox exchange's creditors drop a bit, 850,000 BTC was stolen from the exchange in 2014, and according to a report in August, so far just over 2% of the victims have been repaid, repayments are expected to start this year;
• The rising price of BTC prior to halving could potentially dissuade some from selling cryptocurrencies on exchanges as soon as they are recovered, and higher liquidity could limit the impact on the price of BTC and better 'absorb' any sellers;

Coinbase and Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade

• Cryptocurrency companies are gaining along with Bitcoin. JP Morgan analysts believe that Coinbase (COIN.US) exchange has gained in image and proven liquidity by what could become a beneficiary of cryptocurrency market changes. Moody's remains cautious, however, pointing to rising regulatory compliance costs and lower turnover;
• JP Morgan sees Ethereum upgrade (March 2023) as a revenue catalyst for Coinbase. According to analysts 95% of retail investors on Coinbase will trade Ethereum, and enabling ETH 'staking' could provide the company with up to $600 million in additional revenue annually;
• With the 'Shanghai Upgrade', investors will be able to withdraw deposited ETH and rewards for 'staking' stored on the Beacon chain. The reserves could not leave it for more than 2 years taking part in the chain's transaction processing;
• The average price of investor-bought, 'staked' ETH in Beacon is still higher than the price of Ethereum, which raises the risk of outflows and sales that could affect the price of Etherem if capitlation mood will return to the market. According to some ETH developers, investors are pushing for the upgrade to happen as soon as possible even at the expense of 'code perfection', which could carry negative consequences for the project.

Smaller cryptocurrencies dominate today's gains. Of the larger projects, Ripple and Bitcoincash are gaining. Source: xStation5

In mid-January, the bulls reached the most favorable level on the 60-day BTC options market in more than a year, traders were finally able to receive a premium for upward price projections. Currently, the small premium shows that traders are hesitant and will assess the upside and downside odds as similar. Despite the rally, the market is still worried about profit realization. Source: Laevitas

The latest Glassnode data did not indicate an increase in activity for Bitcoin's largest holders due to the broad 3-month interval. However, tracking Santiment's current terminal data, we see that addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC have begun more aggressive accumulation since the beginning of the year. Source:Santiment

The amount of BTC held by HODL addresses, historically the least likely to sell, and so-called BTC lost (lost addresses) has pierced the peaks of November 4 which, in an environment of rising prices, may favor melting supply. Source: Glassnode

The RPV indicator, which compares the realized profit of the Bitcoin market with the network's valuation, fell to record low levels of the bull market from where it has historically rebounded along with the BTC price (pink vertical bars on the chart). Source: Glassnode

Bitcoin, D1 interval. The RSI indicator, after a powerful rally to 86 points, found itself at levels from which another downward impulse or correction was often triggered in the past. The SMA100 average (black) still has not crossed the SMA200 (red), indicating that a possible 'trend-deciding momentum shift' is yet to come. Source: xStation5