Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Rise Amid Tight Labor Market: Analyst Says Cryptoverse Could 'Look More Attractive' Than Equities

Major cryptocurrencies traded in the green on Thursday evening as the labor market showed signs of remaining stubbornly robust, according to the latest jobless claims data. 

What Happened: Apex cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC/USD traded above $25,000, while Ethereum ETH/USD was up 1.66% at nearly $1,675. Dogecoin DOGE/USD was trading at $0.072,  up 4.17% in the last 24 hours.

At the time of writing, the global crypto market capitalization stood at $1.09 trillion, an increase of 2.21% over the last day.  

U.S. equity markets also turned green. The S&P  rose by 1.76%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 2.48%.

The latest data on unemployment growth from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that initial jobless claims decreased to 192,000 in the week ending March 11. This is lower than both the previously reported figure of 211,000 and the market expectation of 205,000. This is a welcome development and could indicate that the labor market is continuing to show signs of improvement.

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News Highlights: A new class-action lawsuit is alleging that crypto influencers, notably Ben Armstrong (a.k.a. BitBoy), promoted FTX without disclosing their compensation for doing so. According to the lawsuit, some of these influencers replaced YouTube clips that praised former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with videos apologizing for their past endorsements of both the exchange and Bankman-Fried. 

Only one out of three users of Arbitrum, a second-layer blockchain running on Ethereum, have received 1,000 tokens or more in an airdrop designed and facilitated by Nansen, a blockchain analytics startup. 

Analyst Notes: “Bitcoin is higher as Wall Street grows confident that efforts are being made to contain this banking turmoil and as central banks globally are continuing with their respective tightening cycles. The ECB went ahead with their half-point rate rise and expectations are improving for the Fed to deliver one more hike. If the Fed might is done tightening after the March 22nd meeting, that will keep the economy in slowdown mode and support expectations that we should start seeing labor market weakness in the Spring,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Moya added, “Despite losing a couple [of] important crypto banks, the plunge in yields is welcome news for many crypto startups. As the economy heads towards a recession, the cryptoverse could look more attractive than equities. It appears the downside risks are greater for the S&P 500 than they are for Bitcoin.” 

Crypto analyst Justin Bennett in a blog post updated his Bitcoin outlook, predicting a potential 20% increase in value. In a new analysis, Bennett suggests that the historic 35% pump seen over the past five days is not the end — instead, he believes that Bitcoin may have further upside if the price can close above $25,000. If this happens, he predicts BTC could surge over $30,000. 

“An aggressive bounce from the $23,000-$23,500 area could send BTC back to $25,200. And a daily close above $25,200 would signal the next leg up toward the $28,000-$30,000 region. But all of that is contingent on a solid bounce from the mid $23,000 area.”

Analyst Bob Loukas said BTC seems to be chipping away at overhead resistance at the $25,000 range in an early cycle move. “Feels like a move to $28,000-$32,000 will be next, once cleared.

$BTC seems to be chipping away at overhead resistance at the $25k range in an early cycle move.

Feels like a move to $28k-$32k will be next, once cleared. pic.twitter.com/dVK314fEwD

— Bob Loukas (@BobLoukas) March 16, 2023

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