Bitcoin erased most of the previous week’s losses last week. The price is above $28,500 currently after it rebounded toward the Fibonacci 261.8 resistance around midweek but then retraced down. The RSI rebounded from the lower bound of neutral zone and now is down at around 50 level. The price forecast has turned bearish while bulls failed to win back market control and bears seem to have the upper hand still.
Stocks traded sideways last week as the US personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE index) - excluding food and energy - the Fed’s preferred measure of underlying inflation, rose in March from the prior month. Investors are looking forward now to Federal Reserve’s May meeting starting tomorrow as the PCE data supported the case for another rate hike. Meanwhile long-term Bitcoin holders earned profits for first time in 11 months, EU urged crypto firms to diversify their stablecoin reserves and Societe Generale introduced a euro stablecoin on Ethereum.
The seven-day average of Bitcoin`s "long-term holder spent output profit ratio," or LTH-SOPR, has crossed above one for the first time since May 2022, according to data tracking firm Glassnode. The long-term holder SOPR tracks coins moved on-chain that have a lifespan of at least 155 days. The rebound of this ratio is noteworthy since the ratio`s previous crossovers above one – dated May 2020, May 2019 and November 2015 – coincided with recovery rallies that eventually translated into multi-year bull runs.
José Manuel Campa, chairman of the European Banking Authority, urged crypto players to diversify stablecoin reserves. European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets rules, known as MiCA, are set to take effect next year. However Campa wrote the European Banking Authority “will be paying special attention to diversification of the deposit component of the reserve.”
Societe Generale`s crypto division, SG Forge, introduced a euro stablecoin on Ethereum - EURCV, which will be offered to institutional clients. SG Forge said the EUR CoinVertible – EURCV is addressing increasing demand from clients for a robust settlement asset for on-chain transactions, as well as a means for on-chain liquidity funding and refinancing. EURCV will be traded on public blockchain unlike JPMorgan`s in-house stablecoin JPM coin which has been in use since 2020 as a settlement token between financial institutions but trades on the bank`s internal Onyx network.
