Bitcoin Below $28K, Ethereum, Dogecoin Fall Ahead Of Fed Rate Decision: Analyst Pencils Key Levels For Apex Crypto 'Chopping Around'

Major coins traded in the red on Monday evening as investors appeared to be positioning themselves ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision on Wednesday. 

What Happened: Apex cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC/USD saw its highest trading price of the day soar to $28,459 on Monday, shortly after the Federal Reserve announced its partnership with five other major central banks in order to ensure a steady flow of the US dollar. Although the price experienced a pullback to $27,856.

Ethereum ETH/USD was down 1.93% to change hands below $1,800. Dogecoin DOGE/USD was trading at $0.071,  down 4.56% in the last 24 hours.

At the time of writing, the global crypto market capitalization stood at $1.16 trillion, a decrease of 1.19% over the last day.  

U.S. stocks surged on Monday, spearheaded by the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, amid growing signs that the banking crisis may gradually ease. This comes after the Swiss government intervened and engineered a takeover of Credit Suisse Group CS by UBS. The S&P 500 jumped 0.89%, while the Nasdaq Composite soared 0.39%.

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News Highlights: Coinbase COIN has reportedly ceased support for the Signet payment platform of Signature Bank more than a week after New York regulators closed the crypto-friendly institution. According to The Wall Street Journal, Coinbase users will not be able to use Signet to send funds outside of banking hours until further notice. 

Analyst Notes: “Bitcoin is rallying as Wall Street becomes more aggressive in pricing Fed rate cuts and as banking sector worries drive some into alternative investments away from traditional financing. Bitcoin in early trade was closer to $40,000 than it is to the November low,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe made an important observation about Bitcoin: “nothing has changed today”, as it's simply "chopping around." The likely scenario will be either that a top is formed in the $28,500 to $29,000 area or a final sweep lower towards $25,000, he said. If the latter occurs, van de Poppe suggested buying a bottom in that area for at least a bounce.

Regarding #Bitcoin nothing has changed today.

Chopping around, just like tomorrow will be.

Might be topped or a final sweep to $28,500-29,000 area.

Breaking beneath $27K and I'll buy $25K for a bounce at least. pic.twitter.com/MfgXai2Aqk

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) March 20, 2023

Popular crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen offered a market outlook on Bitcoin, examining where the popular digital asset could go before the next bull market truly kicks off.  Cowen said BTC may go slightly higher than its current value and consolidate at or above the $30,000 range before seeing a corrective move. His outlook would involve BTC hitting a “deviation to the upside [at $30,000] for a while,” making a "higher low" before rallying on up. 

On-chain data analytics platform Santiment reported that the average returns for Bitcoin amongst long-term holders and short-term 'new money' investors have skyrocketed into positive territory for the first time in 14 months.

📈 The average returns for #Bitcoin amongst long-term hodlers and short-term "new money" has blasted into positive territory for the first time in 14 months. Our latest insight covers how this key indicator cross is valuable to gauge the next #bullrun. https://t.co/g2lSi9OXoI pic.twitter.com/50z1LPmXcD

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) March 20, 2023

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