The price of Bitcoin is on the rise again, which means that altcoins are also growing! Although this week we haven’t seen a massive rally yet, most of the alternative cryptocurrencies managed to increase significantly, and some were even able to make truly spectacular gains. However, the most interesting thing to happen in the altcoin ecosystem this week was not the price movements of existing altcoins, but the announcements of new, potentially game-changing altcoins that will soon be launched!

Iconic NFT Project Finally Launches Its Own Altcoin

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is one of the most successful and most popular NFT projects in the world. It’s very likely that Non-Fungible Tokens would not become as widely known as they are now if not for Bored Apes profile pics which have taken over social media platforms like Twitter by storm.

Most of the details about the upcoming cryptocurrency called ApeCoin (APE) have not been made public yet. All we know for now is that APE will be governed by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization called ApeCoin DAO, and that most of the APE supply is supposed to be distributed among the Bored Ape Yacht Club community.

All current Bored Ape owners will presumably be eligible to receive free APE tokens in an airdrop. People who don’t own any Bored Ape NFTs will be able to invest in ApeCoin in a standard way.

BAYC was always known as the NFT project with the best marketing, but launching its own altcoin might truly take the project to another level. It’s very likely that other NFT collections will not want to be left behind, so we’ll probably see many more NFT-backed altcoins launched in the near future.

Popular Crypto Wallet Teases Its Own Token

Bored Ape Yacht Club is not the only popular crypto brand that has recently announced plans to launch its own alternative cryptocurrency. MetaMask, one of the most popular multi-currency software wallets in the world, has also decided to release its own crypto asset.

Just like with BAYC, the token will be accompanied by a DAO. But in the case of MetaMask’s plan, we don’t have any details except for a very vague announcement that ConsenSys, the company behind the wallet, is working on creating a Decentralized Autonomous Organization.

Although we don’t even know the name or the ticker of MetaMask's altcoin yet, it’s not too soon to observe that a new trend of “altcoinization” is emerging in the blockchain ecosystem. Between Bored Ape Yacht Club’s and MetaMask’s altcoin announcements, it’s clear that popular crypto names are starting to rediscover the power of altcoins yet again.

ThorChain Is On the Rise - What’s Behind RUNE’s Massive Rally?

Most altcoins have only managed to make small gains over the past 7 days. ThorChain is not one of them: over the past week, the RUNE price has increased by over 69%, making it the best performing major altcoin by far.

The spectacular rally caused the RUNE price to reach over $8, which made ThorChain one of the top 50 largest cryptocurrencies with the market capitalization of over $2.75 Billion. However, it’s worth noting that ThorChain is still down over 60% from its All Time High of over $21 achieved in May last year.

The ongoing ThorChain rally, which has been lasting for the past few weeks, is mainly caused by the increasingly stronger technological fundamentals of the project. Recently, ThorChain has added the support of synthetic assets, and the developers are working intensely to include more DeFi features in RUNE in the near future.

The Graph Keeps Growing

While nothing beats ThorChain’s gains, The Graph’s price increase is also impressive. Over the past week, GRT has grown by over 27%. Currently, The Graph is the 54th largest coin on the market.

Although GRT is already a popular altcoin, it’s essential to note that it’s still a project at an early stage of development. Currently, The Graph is in the process of migrating from the  Ethereum blockchain to the recently launched The Graph Network mainnet.

According to experts, The Graph’s main use case of easily integrating blockchain solutions with off-chain oracles and APIs will be massively important as we transition towards Web 3.0. Because of that, the GRT price is likely to continue growing in the future.

Citadel, a leading hedge fund, has disclosed plans to enter the crypto market in 2022. Its founder, Ken Griffin, told Bloomberg Wealth that markets are currently highly volatile due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. In 2018, the Citadel executive advised the young generation against investing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC).

According to Griffin, we should expect Citadel in the crypto space “over the months to come.” The announcement indicates a U-turn from the firm’s stand about crypto since 2017.

At the time, the executive said that the leading cryptocurrency exhibits “many” characteristics of “the tulip bulb mania.” In other words, BTC was a bubble, and it was a matter of time before it bursts.

The king coin was changing hands at roughly 10,000 US dollars when making the comments. According to Griffin, the tumbling down of such bubbles is accompanied by massive losses.

Interestingly, the Citadel founder admitted to Bloomberg Wealth that his observations at the time were inaccurate. He added that virtual currencies are among the “great stories” in the finance ecosystem in the last 1.5 decades.

With a $2 Trillion Market Cap, I was Wrong

Supporting his current stand, Griffin referenced the crypto market’s valuation of “about $2 trillion in round numbers,” which clearly shows he wasn’t “right on this call.” However, he said he still has doubts, although “millions of people” globally see no reason not to dive all in.

One of the ways Citadel is looking to interact with the virtual currency space is by “being a market maker.” Currently, the hedge fund focuses on hunting for profits for its partners through an in-depth analysis of global markets. Griffin wants to expand the firm’s scope to include crypto.

Two months ago, Citadel Securities received investments from Paradigm Capital and Sequoia Capital, two leading crypto-focused firms. After the 1.15 billion US dollars from the two firms, the hedge fund reached a valuation of 22 billion USD.

Griffin’s change of heart concerning crypto is surprising, considering that in November, he said that some cryptocurrency investors have misplaced “passion.”

Despite his comments, the Citadel executive has in the past said that cryptocurrencies powered by the Ethereum blockchain are likely to send the leading crypto into the shadows.

Striving to Make BTC Adoption “Happen Faster”

As the billionaire investor abandons his crypto fears, Samson Mow has vowed to make mass BTC adoption “happen faster.” Mow disclosed his plans when leaving Blockstream, where he has served as CSO (chief strategy officer) since 2017.

Through his Twitter account, Mow revealed he will still hang around but as a “BlockstreamSpy.” In a tweet, he said that March 1 marks his “last day with Blockstream.” Some of his accomplishments vary from “sidechains, to mining, to satellites.”

Although he revealed he’ll concentrate more on Pixelmatic, a company specializing in game development, he said his ultimate goal is to ignite “nation-state Bitcoin adoption.”

According to Mow, El Salvador moving deeper into Bitcoin “and more countries” pivoting towards the leading cryptocurrency makes 24 hours in a day “no longer enough anymore” for him. As such, Mow believes it’s “time to move on,” considering Blockstream already has enough capital and it’s “in a very good place.”

He added that BTC is likely in a “pivotal point” closer to mass adoption. Mow believes he can make the mass BTC adoption “happen faster.”

The ex-Blockstream CSO has been involved in El Salvador’s plans to build a BTC city that targets to harness the country’s geothermal power to drive Bitcoin mining rigs. Mow noted El Salvador will be a global “financial center” when the king coin hits one million USD per coin.

Russia Not Likely to Use Crypto to Evade Sanctions

Mow revealed he’ll not completely abandon Blockstream, saying that he’ll continue promoting Liquid, a settlement network developed by the company. Explaining his decision, he said that Liquid is a key component in reforming the conventional financial ecosystem.

In other news, crypto policy experts have expressed their skepticism about Russia using cryptocurrencies after sanctions blocked major Russian banks from using SWIFT, a global interbank messaging system. According to them, the crypto market doesn’t currently have the volume needed by Russia. Also, the country’s crypto space is underdeveloped.

Jake Chervinsky, an executive at Blockchain Association, a virtual currency advocate, observed that those fearing that Russia will evade sanctions through crypto “misunderstand: how sanctions work, how crypto markets work, [and] how Putin is actually trying to mitigate sanctions.”

It’s been an eventful week for all financial markets–especially in the cryptocurrency markets. Since cryptocurrency is more volatile and easily influenced than traditional markets, it’s important to do an honest evaluation frequently and assess the situation. Doing so can improve your performance as an investor and also just make you a much more knowledgeable investor.

This comprehensive look at Bitcoin’s price action, trend, and underlying analytics will give us some insight into what we can expect from Bitcoin’s price in the coming days, weeks, and months. With this knowledge, we’ll be able to judge what would be a proper entry, exit, or any other change in position.

For this analysis, we’ll look at Bitcoin’s price chart on the 1-hour, 4-hour, and 1-day timeframes to determine what we think the direction of Bitcoin will be for the three timeframes. We’ll use indicators like RSI and trendlines to ensure that what we are seeing is confirmed by technical analysis.

Short-Term

For the short-term analysis of Bitcoin, we are going to look at a chart that is using 1-hour candles. That means that for each candle on this chart, 1 hour of time has elapsed. Here’s what we’re currently looking at:

Though the past few weeks of being invested in Bitcoin have been volatile, what we’re seeing on the short-term chart is a lot of chop and sideways action. However, even this chart has some things to say. As you can see, we’re at a critical price level that has been touched multiple times as both support and resistance.

If the price can sustain a breakout over the white support line and continue its double bottom pattern (highlighted in yellow), we have every reason to believe that Bitcoin’s price will rise in the coming hours.

Medium-Term

To look at Bitcoin on the medium time frame, we are going to pull up a chart that has 4-hour candles. This means that each candlestick on the chart represents 4 hours of time. This analysis will give us an idea of what is going to occur in the coming days and what price targets we should be keeping an eye on as the price action unfolds.

As you can see on our 4-hour chart, we are looking at the same general supports that were used for the 1-hour chart. We also clearly have a double-bottom structure still forming on this timeframe, which is highlighted in yellow.

One notable difference on this chart is that we definitely have a price target that we are aiming for. The gray box highlights another key support/resistance that we anticipate Bitcoin is headed to. This, combined with the general uptrend over the past month or so, forms a bullish ascending triangle that is very encouraging.

The only worrying sign to arise from this chart is that the RSI seems to be quite high, so this could take a couple of days to come to fruition while the RSI cools down a bit.

Long-Term

For the long-term view of Bitcoin, we are going to look at a chart with 1-day candles. For each candle on the chart, 1 day of time has elapsed.

The yellow line on this chart represents a very solid support that we might expect Bitcoin’s price to retreat to if it is unable to break out above the white line, which is the current resistance. If Bitcoin is able to sustain a breakout above the white line, we expect the price to continue its uptrend and make investors happy in the coming months.

Bitcoin had a wild day in the market as first it dropped a lot of value after the news broke regarding the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. At first, it dropped considerably in value, reporting losses of as much as 10% at one point. But, at the end of the day, buyers quickly came back into action and now we are well above the starting valuation of $38k. Altcoins on the other hand posted even bigger wild swings than Bitcoin itself. More on that later on.

Twitter users, especially Bitcoin proponents have been active in the last 24 hours to come up with ways to possibly help the Ukrainian forces and civilians against Russian aggression. One eager user came up with the idea that the Ukrainian forces could be given further funding with Bitcoin. However, lack of digital currency funding is probably not the biggest problem the country is facing at the moment, but perhaps an imbalance of military might. 

The Dogecoin founder who has no current stake in DOGE or any other meme digital currency has come out against the growing meme cryptocurrency scene. Billy Markus, who created the coin back in 2015 by changing the font on the Bitcoin code and starting his own network just for the laughs now sees no reason why meme coins should exist. Markus famously bought a used civic from all of this Dogecoin stash and walked away a few years back. 

The tiny Pacific island of Tonga is continuing on its trajectory to declare Bitcoin as legal tender in the country. The country was affected badly in a recent underwater volcanic activity in the Pacific Ocean. But even with its problems, it is looking to go ahead with the move as it sees big benefits with the sector that can help the isolated island. 

The Chinese Supreme Court has added digital currencies to the list of illegal fundraising methods as the country further cracks down against the sector. The updated list was released by the court earlier and was geared at combating crypto-based fundraising methods. 

A top Russian politician has indicated that the country might confiscate foreign currency stashes of private citizens within the country if it has to as the local currency plunged more than 15% in a single day. Russia is being hit by crippling sanctions around the world. There are as much as $750 billion in assets of the Russian people that the government can tap into but that would be a bad precedent. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ended the use of emergency powers in the country. The desperate authority was sought by the government after it failed to end the truckers' protest in the capital. Bitcoin came into the spotlight during these protests as an effective manner of payment even as Trudeau froze the truckers’ assets in banks. 

Top engineering institution BNY Mellon is partnering with analytical website Chainalysis to help track users’ transactions. The demand for such a system is very high at the moment and we could soon see an advanced version in the near future that can track transactions in real-time. 

A top hedge fund’s report states that cryptocurrency prices are relatively inexpensive at the moment, meaning they could increase considerably in the near future. The report was from Pantera Capital.

Bitcoin Drops Below $35k, then Recovers Back to $39k

Bitcoin had a volatile day overall as the market gave extreme mixed reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At first, the index dropped heavily, then recovered steadily and eventually became slightly bullish at the end of the day.

The last 24 hours started with Bitcoin at around $37.8k. It traded sideways for a short while before it started to drop in the early hours of the morning as Putin announced the move to attack Ukraine from multiple fronts. In a matter of a few hours, the index had reached a multi-week low of $34.5k. However, the index didn’t fall further and made some recoveries. Just before press time, the index had recovered slightly back above $37k in a steady recovery. However, during the writing of this piece, Bitcoin suddenly rose abruptly and is now trading well above $38.7k at press time. 

Moving forward, Bitcoin is witnessing a big contest between the bulls and the bears. The reason why the situation is tense is because they can’t agree on whether the Ukraine war is a bearish or bullish event. Since the markets mostly fell, it is a bearish issue for many assets but bulls argue that the worth of safe havens has increased including Gold itself. So, The two are expected to tussle it out in the near future. If bulls manage to pull the index above $40k in a swift move and keep on rising, it could be a great day for them.

The total market capitalization of Bitcoin was around $738 billion and its share of the proceedings was 43%.

Altcoins Post Big Losses

Other cryptocurrencies aka altcoins posted big losses earlier in the day before slowing down near press time. However, they didn’t rise above their starting lines mostly and remained relatively weak in the face of the sudden BTC price reversal. Big losers included Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIBA), Polygon (MATIC), Cronos, and Litecoin. Most of these posted double-digit losses before later recoveries.