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Nonfarm payrolls rose by 209,000 in June, below economists’ expectations of an addition of 240,000 jobs. Although the figures show a cooling labor market, market observers remained concerned as the average hourly earnings growth held steady at 0.4% from May and 4.4% from a year ago. 

The report did not alter expectations of a 25 basis point rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve in the next meeting, according to the FedWatch Tool. That kept the U.S. equities markets under pressure, with all three major indices falling for the week. The S&P 500 was down 1.16% and the Nasdaq was lower by 0.92%.

Another minor negative for the crypto markets was a report by JPMorgan managing director Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, which said that a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) may not prove to be a game changer for the crypto space. Panigirtzoglou cites lackluster interest in the spot Bitcoin ETFs in Canada and Europe as the reason for a possible low impact even in the U.S.

Could bulls regroup and kick Bitcoin above the overhead resistance? If they do, select altcoins could join the march higher. Let’s analyze the charts of top-5 cryptocurrencies that are showing signs of moving up.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin remains stuck between the 20-day exponential moving average ($29,854) and the overhead resistance at $31,000. This suggests uncertainty among the bulls and the bears about the next directional move.

Bitcoin (BTC) will suck in “all prosperity gains” in future and leave behind those who have no exposure as a result, a new prediction says.

In a Twitter thread on July 8, investor Luke Broyles delivered a bold vision of how Bitcoin would become “society’s base money.”

Investor tells would-be Bitcoin buyers: "Get off zero"

What started off as a commentary on how artificial intelligence (AI) is welcoming BTC soon became a dramatic outline of how it should end up as the world’s go-to currency.

For Broyles, Bitcoin’s key attribute — a fixed, immutable supply — makes it unique as a future-proof asset.

“Every innovation (even AI) will rush as quickly as possible to competitively force prices down. Every country will rush as quickly as possible to print currency to force prices up and sustain credit markets. Both of these forces will increase in speed,” he wrote.

Bitcoin’s price gave back some of its recent gains this week, but multiple data points suggest that $30,000 should hold as support going forward.

Bitcoin (BTC) remained within a narrow 4.3% range for the 15 days leading up to July 7. Despite the proximity of the $29,895 to $31,165 range, investors’ sentiment was significantly impacted by an unsuccessful attempt to break above $31,400 on July 6.

Traders’ tendency to overreact to short-term price movements rather than Bitcoin’s year-to-date gains of 82% could be part of the reason for the short-term correction. This same rationale applies to the events related to other cryptocurrencies.

At the forefront of investors’ minds are questions about whether the recent price gains were solely driven by multiple spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) requests.

Other pressing developments include Binance’s chief strategy officer, Patrick Hillmann, and other top compliance officers reportedly leaving the exchange on July 6 over CEO Changpeng Zhao’s response to the United States Justice Department’s investigation. On June 29, the crypto exchange also informed users that its euro banking payment gateway would cease services by September, potentially halting deposits and withdrawals via SEPA bank transfer.

Ether has been on a downward trend, with the $2,000 level forming a crucial resistance level in recent months.

While Bitcoin (BTC) recorded 11.94% gains, moving past $30,000 in June after BlackRock filed an application for an exchange-traded fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States, the upside in Ether (ETH) stayed around 3.16%.

In the first week of July, buyers attempted to move the price past crucial resistance at around $1,900. However, a failed breakout exposed the price to further correction.

The Ethereum network also witnessed a decline in activity, evident in the one-year-low levels in total transaction fees. The price of leading nonfungible token (NFT) collections on Ethereum plummeted, while decentralized finance (DeFi) activity stalled due to low yields.

However, the downside may be limited, as the demand for liquid staking derivatives (LSDs) like Lido’s stETH continues to grow, rising faster than investors are moving to sell.

Bitcoin (BTC) will be the currency of artificial intelligence (AI) and could reach a price per coin of $760,000 in the process, Arthur Hayes says.

In his latest essay titled “Massa,” the former BitMEX CEO concluded that the AI revolution would naturally gravitate toward BTC.

Hayes: Bitcoin is "logical currency choice for AI"

Despite fiat currency regimes being destined to become evermore dysfunctional in future, Hayes says, there is one burgeoning economic sector which will only go from strength to strength: AI.

While still nascent in 2023, the coming decades will see an explosion of AI-related implementations which will make it ubiquitous and unavoidable.

“Recent advancements in computing power have brought us to the cusp of a hockey stick moment, in which AI will go viral and change the course of humanity virtually overnight,” he wrote.

The start of June saw negative price action across the cryptocurrency market after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought fresh lawsuits against the world’s largest exchanges, Binance and Coinbase.

However, the sentiment quickly turned bullish after a crucial exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal was filed by the world’s largest asset management firm, BlackRock, on June 16. A wave of ETF fillings and institutional trading interest in digital assets followed BlackRock’s ETF filling.

The launch of EDX Markets — backed by Wall Street giants Fidelity Investments, Citadel Securities and Charles Schwab — on June 20 fueled a particular sector of the market, that being Bitcoin forks like Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) and other proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies like Kaspa (KAS).

The exchange debuted with Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and BCH. The inclusion of BCH catalyzed an uptrend across other Bitcoin forks.

Among the top gainers in June, three Bitcoin forks populated the list, followed by Kaspa and FLEX Coin (FLEX). FLEX benefited from its integration with Open Exchange (OPNX), which is backed by the co-founders of the bankrupt Three Arrows Capital fund.

Bitcoin (BTC) teased more rangebound moves on July 7 as traders recovered from a day of volatility.

BTC price gets a bid after volatile 24 hours

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price action hugging $30,000 overnight.

Bitcoin bulls had hoped that new yearly highs the day prior would allow BTC/USD to exit its months-long trading range for good, but ended up disappointed.

The largest cryptocurrency saw rejection at $31,500, falling below the $30,000 mark just hours later to challenge the lower part of the range.

Looking ahead, traders thus reverted to risk-off mode in the short term.

Bitcoin mining companies outperformed BTC price by a huge margin amid the recent bullish price action in the top cryptocurrency.

The average year-to-date gains in 2023 across the stocks of top nine public Bitcoin mining firms by market capitalization stood at 257.14%. The figure is almost three times higher than BTC’s gain in the same period.

The higher gains represent the leveraged beta effect that mining stocks enjoy. Leveraged beta suggests that during Bitcoin upside, these stocks outperform. Whereas, when Bitcoin slumps, they face deeper downside risk.

Due to a high levered beta, Bitcoin’s price performance will remain a crucial factor in determining the direction of mining stocks.

The trends within the mining sector show that miners are positioning themselves for the long-term by buying more machines. However, they have yet to exhibit accumulation levels that match previous bull markets, suggesting that the uptrend in the stocks could stall in the medium term.

Bitcoin (BTC) continued snap volatility after the July 6 Wall Street open as yearly highs gave way to a comedown.

Bitcoin suddenly falls to new July lows

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC price action as it seesawed around the $30,000 mark.

Bitcoin had surged to its highest levels since mid-2022 earlier in the day, but the party ended up short lived as the largest cryptocurrency gave back all its gains.

BTC/USD even set new July lows on Bitstamp, so far bottoming at $29,925.

As a “scalper’s dream” came true on the charts, traders took a step back to see what would happen next.

Ether (ETH) price faced resistance after hitting the $1,970 level on July 3. A number of factors capped the rally, including higher odds of more interest rate hikes in the coming months and a tighter regulatory cryptocurrency environment.

Macro headwinds from the Fed

Besides the external factors, the Ethereum network has faced withdrawals from its smart contract applications, which also put the June rally in check.

Investors now question whether the tailwinds from Bitcoin’s (BTC) ETF requests have faded, opening room for a correction down to the $1,700 level last seen on June 16.

The recent macroeconomic events may provide some hints, including the, U.S. Gross Domestic Product grew by an annualized 2% in the first quarter, Germany’s Consumer Price Index increased 6.8% in June versus the previous year, and The China Caixin global services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) reporting activity expansion.

Thus, strong economic indicators have heightened investors' expectations of further tightening measures from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Bitcoin (BTC) reached new 2023 highs on July 6 as a fresh bounce off key support buoyed bulls.

Bitcoin analyst warns of “predatory range”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price action surging through the top of its recent trading range.

Analysts had previously reckoned on the largest cryptocurrency dropping further, potentially reaching $28,000 to offer a classic “buy the dip” opportunity.

With momentum headed back upward, Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, was optimistic.

“I hope your long entries are filled on Bitcoin. Looks quite decent here, and I think we’ll slowly continue grinding to the upside,” he told Twitter followers.

Litecoin's price is down today, mirroring downside moves elsewhere in the crypto market.

On July 5, the Litecoin (LTC) price dropped over 3% to $100.50. On the same day, the crypto market’s overall capitalization fell 2%, suggesting traders have started securing profits at the local tops of multiple cryptocurrencies.

Litecoin’s RSI turns “overbought”

Litecoin rallied by more than 65% to reach a year-to-date high of $116 on July 2.

The gains appeared primarily due to euphoria around its halving in August and its listing on EDX Markets, a newly launched exchange backed by Wall Street giants like Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab.

Since then, however, the LTC price has corrected by nearly 14%, including the 3% drop on July 5. One reason is its overbought relative strength index (RSI) on the daily chart, which typically prompts the price to drop or consolidate sideways. 

There is a common belief that when the U.S. dollar declines relative to other main global currencies, as measured by the Dollar Strength Index (DXY), the impact on Bitcoin (BTC) is positive, and vice versa.

For instance, the DXY index dropped from 103.0 on Jan. 2017 to a 92.6 low on Aug. 2017, while Bitcoin rallied from $1,000 to $4,930 in the same period. But is there enough evidence to justify a bull run similar to 2016–17, as some analysts are arguing?

But is there enough evidence to justify a bull run similar to 2016–2017, as some analysts are arguing?

Is the Bitcoin-dollar inverse trend real?

Traders and influencers frequently warn about this negative correlation and how a reversal of DXY will likely push the Bitcoin price higher.

Investment research @GameofTrades_ recently posted a chart presenting the pattern in early 2023 and then repeating itself later in May. There’s some indisputable evidence of the inverse correlation there.

Bitcoin (BTC) headed lower into the July 5 Wall Street open as a risk-off mood entered United States equities.

BTC price begins hitting dip-buying targets

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD tapping multi-day lows of $30,280 on Bitstamp.

BTC price action continued a sideways trading pattern within a larger range in place practically since mid-June.

With no discernible progress toward breaking topside resistance, Bitcoin traders hoped that a sweep of the lows would provide the fuel bulls needed.

Popular trader Crypto Ed had his eye on the area at $30,000 or just below on the day.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls face a tough task to bring BTC price action past $35,000, fresh analysis predicts.

In its latest market update on July 5, trading firm QCP Capital flagged the mid-$30,000 range as a potential cooling-off point for the Bitcoin bull market.

Bitcoin homes in on post-FTX rally peak

With BTC price stagnating around $30,000, concerns are mounting that the majority of its gains have already materialized.

The area between $35,000 and $40,000 is now particularly popular among market participants seeking to catch a local top, and QCP is one of them.

“Tactically (short-term), our favoured trade to play this is selling end-Sep 33k to 35k calls, and using the premiums to buy 30k puts,” it summarized about its plans for H2 trading.

The Bitcoin (BTC) futures' premium has reached its highest level in 18 months on July 4. But traders are now questioning whether the derivatives metrics indicate "excessive excitement" or a "return to the mean" after a prolonged bear market.

BTC price gains capped by regulators, macroeconomics

Bitcoin's price has been trading in a narrow 4.4% range since June 22, oscillating between $29,900 and $31,160 as measured by its daily closing prices. The lack of a clear trend might be uncomfortable to some, but that is a reflection of the opposing drivers currently in play.

For instance, investor sentiment was negatively affected by the historic reversion of the U.S. Treasury yield curve, which reached its highest level on record.

The closely monitored inverted spread between the 2-year and 10-year Treasury notes has reached its highest level since 1981, standing at 1.09%. The phenomenon known as yield curve inversion, when shorter-dated Treasury notes trade at higher yields than longer-dated notes, typically precedes economic recessions.

Related: Fed pauses interest rates, but Bitcoin options data still points to BTC price downside