CoinDesk 20 Index: 3,340.72 +6.1%
Bitcoin (BTC): $99,636.92 +5.04%
Ether (ETH): $2,811.49 +8.84%
S&P 500: 5,994.57 -0.76%
Gold: $2,820.3 +0.05%
Nikkei 225: 38,798.37 +0.72%

BTC fell below $100,000 as it faced renewed selling pressure after China imposed retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. Beijing imposed a 15% duty on U.S. coal and LNG and a 10% tax on crude oil, agricultural machinery, pickup trucks and large-engine cars. The move came after President Donald Trump's 10% tariffs on China came into effect. Having plunged as low as $93,000 on Monday, BTC recovered much of this ground to trade above $102,000. It was recently about 4% higher over 24 hours around the $99,000 mark. Other crypto majors such as XRP, DOGR and SOL zoomed as much as 20% before regressing, and are still showing healthy gains of 6%-10% in the last 24 hours.

The Bitcoin hashrate reached an all-time high, with a seven-day moving average jumping to 833 EH/s, according to Glassnode data. This represents a 9% increase in the past few days. The network has seen a significant rise in hashrate over the past 18 months, driven largely by institutional investment in mining infrastructure, according to The Miner Mag. Since Bitcoin’s April 2024 halving, the hashrate has increased by more than 40%, indicating continued expansion in mining operations. Pre-orders for mining hardware have begun to decline. Many mining firms had stocked up on equipment before the halving to ensure their operations remained competitive. Analysts now expect a slowdown in hashrate growth.

The Ethereum network’s capacity to handle more transactions improved late Monday as validators agreed on a gas limit increase for the first time since late 2021. The gas limit on Ethereum reached nearly 32 million gas units with a maximum expected capacity of 36 million units. The change was implemented after more than half of the validators supported the adjustment, which was enacted automatically without the need for a hard fork (or a split in the network). Raising the limit allows Ethereum to process more transactions or more complex operations within each block, thus improving network throughput and allowing the creation of sophisticated DeFi applications with minimal downtime.

The outlook for alternative cryptocurrencies appears grim relative to bitcoin as a renewed trade war potentially breaking out between the U.S. and its major trading partners may threaten to destabilize the global economy. Still, some coins are flashing bullish hints.

For instance, the XRP/BTC ratio is teasing a move above the upper Bollinger band on the monthly chart for the first time since 2017, hinting at a significant XRP bull run ahead.

Bollinger bands are volatility bands placed plus two and minus two standard deviations above the 20-period (day/week/month) simple moving average of an asset's price.

The break above the upper band represents a bullish imbalance in the market, and prices typically maintain the lead for several days in a pattern called high momentum.

The XRP/BTC ratio surged nearly 200% following the Bollinger band breakout of April 2017, which marked a bullish resolution to prolonged low volatility trading.

- Omkar Godbole