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Bitcoin Dipped Below $40K, Gold at 8-Month High on Ukraine Tensions: This Week’s Crypto Recap

George Georgiev Feb 18, 2022 15:15
The macroeconomic tension took its toll on the markets over the past seven days. Bitcoin dipped below $40K, while gold charted an 8-month high.

The past week hasn’t been so favorable for the cryptocurrency market, the capitalization of which dropped below $2 trillion once again. This is likely to have to do with the global macro tensions between Ukraine and Russia. But let’s start with Bitcoin.

The leading cryptocurrency dipped below $40K today for the first time since February 4th. At the time of this writing, BTC managed to recover above the coveted level, but the volatility is considerable. All in all, it hasn’t been a good week for the cryptocurrency, which charted a decrease of around 8.7% in the past seven days.

This happened as it failed to successfully overcome the resistance at $44K, despite attempting to do so a few times and even consolidating around that level for a bit. The bull’s indecision resulted in a sell-off that saw BTC lose about $4K in a couple of days.

Needless to say, the entire cryptocurrency market followed suit. Ethereum is down roughly the same as BTC, while BNB lost 4.3%. XRP is down 7.5%. Going further, ADA and SOL shed some 13% of their capitalization, similar to Polkadot.

On the other hand, however, gold saw some notable gains, and it’s even trading at an 8-month high. The precious metal rose 1% on Thursday, trading at $1,902 per ounce, whereas traditional markets represented mostly by the S&P 500 took a beating by falling over 2%.

This could be expected, to some extent. Political and macroeconomic turmoil, such as what we’re seeing amid the tension between Russia and Ukraine, typically results in considerable volatility in the stock market as the uncertainty of potential outcomes looms over investors. In situations like these, they tend to seek safety in the stability of the precious metal.

In any case, it’s interesting to see what the coming week has in store for the cryptocurrency market. Upholding the $40K resistance might be critical for the short-term market momentum.

Market Data

Market Cap: $1,939B | 24H Vol: 93B BTC Dominance: 39.7%

BTC: $40,600 (-8.7%) | ETH: $2,865 (-8.5%) | ADA: $1.02 (-13%)

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Charts

This week we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Binance Coin, Cardano, and Polygon – click here for the full price analysis.

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Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.
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George Georgiev

Georgi Georgiev is CryptoPotato's editor-in-chief and seasoned writer with over four years of experience writing about blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Georgi's passion for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies bloomed in late 2016 and he hasn't looked back since. Crypto’s technological and economic implications are what interest him most, and he has one eye turned to the market whenever he’s not sleeping. Contact George: LinkedIn