Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Fail To Break Out — Is Crypto Market Stuck In A Cycle Or Set To 'Pump Harder And Longer?'

Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD traded flat Thursday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap decreased 0.64% to $2.61 trillion.

What Happened: The apex coin fell 0.61% over 24 hours to $56,766.74. For the week, BTC has declined 3.99%.

ETH prices were 0.73% lower over 24 hours at $4,545.18. Over a seven-day trailing period, it has risen 0.44%.

Dogecoin DOGE/USD rose 1.42% to $0.21 over 24 hours. Over the last seven days, it has fallen 4.23%.

Shiba Inu was down 1.99% at $0.00004193 over 24 hours. In a seven-day period, it has risen 1.72%.

The top gainer over 24 hours was Cardano, which spiked 10.01% to $1.70 over 24 hours. For the week, the Charles Hoskinson-created coin has risen 1.09%.

Other notable 24 hour gainers, as per CoinMarketCap data, were IOTA, OKB, and Cosmos.

IOTA rose 8.84% to $1.50, OKB was up 7.96% at $27.31, and Cosmos appreciated 7.61% to $28.40 in the period.

See Also: How To Buy Cardano (ADA)

Why It Matters: Bitcoin continues to trade below the psychologically important $60,000 mark prompting bullish exuberance from some experts. Others appear to have adopted a more cautious outlook.

Cryptocurrency investor Lark Davis said Thursday that the current cycle “will pump harder and longer” beating investor expectations. He did not expect a BTC top well into 2022.

This cycle will pump longer and harder than most of you are prepared for! IMO no top until well into 2022! #crypto
— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) December 2, 2021

CryptoQuant’s BaroVirtual said in an online post that whales are accumulating BTC at a slower pace and are exercising caution.

Chart Depicting Whale Flow Mean — Courtesy CryptoQuant

OANDA Senior Analyst Edward Moya pointed out that BTC has been stuck in the $54,000-$60,000 trading range and it may stay rangebound for a while longer.

“Bitcoin is lower as many crypto investors see some rough waters ahead as profit-taking could settle in even further if risky assets are dealt a blow on rising Fed rate hike expectations,” wrote Moya in an emailed note.

On the other hand, both BTC and ETH exchange balances have been on the decline since April 2021 and these are now at a three-year low, said Delphi Digital, an independent research boutique.

Delphi attributed this to the rise of Decentralized Finance or DeFi, which allows users to garner yields instead of keeping funds “dormant on an exchange.”

This means exchange balances may not be as strong of an indicator as it was before of cyclical tops and bottoms.

BTC and ETH Exchange Balance Chart — Courtesy Delphi Digital

Meanwhile, Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk responded “Dooooge” to CoinDesk tweet touching on Ethereum’s high transaction fee and how it has made DeFi inaccessible to small investors.