Cryptos are calm ahead of US CPI and central bank meetings

There´s a sense of calm in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin (BTC) has risen 1% in the last 24 hours and is trying to consolidate at $26,000 before central bank meetings begin, while Ethereum (ETH) also rebounds and is close to $1,750.

This week is marked by the monetary policy decisions of some of the world's major central banks. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve (Fed) rate decision will be announced; on Thursday, that of the European Central Bank (ECB); and on Friday, that of the Bank of Japan (BOJ). The market believes that the Fed will pause the interest rate hike cycle, but experts also point out that they will leave the door open to continue raising rates in July if necessary. For the ECB, the consensus expects a rate hike of 25 basis points. For the BOJ, it is expected to keep its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged, as usual.

On the other hand, the market also awaits the release of US inflation data. The consensus expects May CPI to moderate to 4.1% from 4.9% in April. As for core CPI, it is expected to decline to 5.3% from 5.5%. In June of last year, CPI peaked at 9.1% and has been on a downward path since then. In April, U.S. CPI fell to 4.9% and hit a 2-year low, while underlying prices slowed to 5.5%.

Meanwhile, the market remains closely watched for developments regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase. According to data from blockchain analytics firm Nansen, flow across all blockchains returned to positive territory on Binance, which, over the past 24 hours, had a net flow of $470 million.

While this is admittedly a minuscule amount compared to the nearly $4 billion in value that has flowed out of the cryptocurrency exchange over the past week, some experts state that the market may be leaning towards a victory for the exchange against the SEC. This also seems to be indicated by the 5% rebound of the Binance coin (BNB) token, which recovers part of what it lost in the last seven days (-15% at the moment).

Javier Molina, senior market analyst for eToro, stressed the "specific" and "differentiating value" that BTC and ETH have demonstrated. "BTC has maintained some relative comparative strength that evidences its clear differentiation from the rest of the assets. The $25,000 area represents the real support to watch. Prices below it would be very bearish and would indicate a high probability of going after $23,600 first and $21,000 as the second key level," he noted.

However, Molina warned that "if we see that $25,000 holds, watch out for $26,200 first and $27,500 after, as these would be the main bullish targets". "At the moment, the percentage of supply in the hands of investors for more than 12 months remains above 67% of the total, the outflow of BTC from the exchanges continues and the hash rate shows the health of the network," he added.

In the rest of the market, there have been rises among the main altcoins. The nearly 3% increase in Ripple (XRP) is particularly noteworthy.