Bitcoin Hovers Around $59K to End Week

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(CoinDesk)

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Bitcoin tested a return to $60,000 on Asian morning Friday before pulling back to trade around $59,000. BTC has gained nearly 2% in the past 24 hours as it continues to recover from its midweek rout, where it fell below $57,000 following a 16% drop in April, the worst month since June 2022. JPMorgan said in a report published yesterday that retail investors played a larger role in the sales than institutional investors. The bank prefers to maintain a cautious stance towards crypto markets in the near term due to the lack of positive catalysts. The broader crypto market is up 1.7% in 24 hours, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20).

Coinbase experienced a boom in the first quarter thanks to improving crypto market conditions and diversification of businesses such as layer-2 blockchain Base, broker JMP said in a report published today. Coinbase reported revenue of $1.2 billion and diluted earnings per share of $4.40. JMP reiterated its outperform rating and $320 price target for COIN. While Canaccord Genuity increased its target from $240 to $280, KBW increased its target from $240 to $280. “While we believe investors should remain sane in the face of industry ebb and flow, which often coincides with price fluctuations, we see a number of underlying trends that support our positive thesis that Coinbase will be a relevant player in nearly all sectors. JMP analysts led by Devin Ryan wrote: Aspects of the crypto economy.

Friend.Tech’s native token rose to $2.50, rising as high as $169 immediately after its launch. Decentralized social platform Friend.Tech airdropped FRIEND on Friday while announcing the 2nd version of the platform. “The price drop seems to be due to liquidity issues,” Hitesh Malviya, founder of crypto analysis platform DYOR, told CoinDesk. It was also seen that some users had problems claiming their airdrops. Malviya said the distribution is a “concentrated airdrop” where leading creators receive the most supply. Following its launch in August last year, assets locked in Friend.Tech rose as high as $52 million in October, but are now down more than 40% to $29.8 million.

Painting of the Day

(Velo Data)

The chart shows the most traded bitcoin options on crypto exchange Deribit in the last 24 hours.

High-volume calls on Bitcoin at $90,000 and $100,000 strikes that ended in September suggest that market participation maintains a bullish outlook on the cryptocurrency.

A call option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase the underlying asset at a predetermined price at a later date. A call buyer implicitly expects to be bullish on the market.

Source: Velo Data

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-Omkar Godbole

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