Bitcoin regains control of the $23,000 mark, while the majority of the top ten crypto tokens gain ground

Bitcoin price rose above $23,000 in early Wednesday Asian trading. Ether and the majority of the top ten non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies recovered from yesterday’s losses, buoyed by strong gains in US equities in January and optimism that the US economy is headed for a soft landing. Dogecoin led the pack, still benefiting from reports on Monday that long-time supporter and Twitter Inc. CEO Elon Musk is looking to bring payment systems to the social media platform.

Quick Facts

• Bitcoin gained 1.3% to US$23,133 in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, bringing its seven-day gains to 2.2%. According to CoinMarketCap data, ether gained 1.2% to $1,586 and is up 1.9% for the week.
• Dogecoin rose 8.7% to US$0.09, representing a 14.3% weekly increase. While the focus of Monday’s report was on adding fiat payments to Twitter, Musk left the door open for cryptocurrency to be added as well.
• Cardano increased by 4.8% to $0.39, a gain of 8.7% in the last seven days. Polygon rose 2.1% to $1.11, for a weekly gain of 16.11%. Solana fell less than 0.1% to US$23.94, making it the only token to fall in the top 10, but it is still up 5.1% for the week.
• The cryptocurrency market cap increased 1.4% to US$1.05 trillion, while total trading volume decreased 17.1% to US$47.26 billion.
• On Tuesday, US equities rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1%, the S&P 500 Index gained 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.7% on the day.
• The performance on Tuesday caps off a strong first month of 2023 for equity markets. The S&P 500 gained 6.2% in the last 31 days for its best January since 2019, while the Nasdaq gained 10.7% in the same period for its best January since 2001.
• Markets rose on the back of strong earnings from Exxon Mobil Corp and Pfizer Inc., both of which reported record profits due to rising oil prices and the continued production of the Covid-19 vaccine.
• The Federal Reserve of the United States sets interest rates on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. CME Group analysts predict the Fed will raise rates by 25 basis points, breaking a streak of 50 and 75 basis point increases since March of last year.
• The Fed’s aggressive rate hikes last year appear to be having the desired effect on inflation control. The Employment Cost Index, released on Tuesday, added 1.0% last quarter, the smallest gain since the end of 2021. The consumer price index in the United States rose 6.5% year on year in December, well below the 7.1% increase in November and the largest monthly decline since April 2020.
• This week brings earnings from technology leaders such as Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Alphabet Inc., the parent company of search engine Google. Non-farm payroll data, another key inflation indicator, will be released on Friday.