Cryptos trade mixed ahead of U.S. GDP; Bitcoin at $28,900

Cryptos trade mixed amid a sense of calm. Bitcoin (BTC) rebounds about 0.5% and hovers around $28,900, while Ethereum (ETH) approaches $1,900 after rising 0.3% in the last 24 hours.

Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets, highlights that the reigning cryptocurrency is going through "tough times" again, as bulls "are struggling to push the price beyond the $30K price level."

"However, for the past couple of days, we have seen bullish price action for the BTC price, and there are still hopes that this momentum will pick up pace as the dollar index loses some strength. Another important factor that BTC bulls are also keeping a close eye on is the Fed meeting, which will take place next week," he noted.

In this regard, everything seems to point to the Fed raising interest rates by 25 basis points. According to CME's FedWatch tool, there is about an 80% chance that this scenario will play out and the central bank will take rates to the 500-525 basis point range. According to Aslam, this could return "some strength" back to the dollar index, which could hurt Bitcoin.

Also, the US GDP data, which will be released today, on Thursday, is the focus of investors' attention. Patrick Munnelly, market analyst at TickMill Group, believes investors are increasingly cautious of the possibility that the powerful U.S. economy is on the brink of recession, although markets expect today's print to show an annualized growth rate of 2%.

"The balance between inventory build up and final demand looks set to be more positive than the numbers seen in the backend of 2022, with January’s upside surprise in consumer spending accounting for the majority of the uplift. Investors are concerned that the January surprise in consumption was an anomaly driven by unseasonal weather conditions that will be neutralised by a deceleration in consumer momentum in the back half of the last quarter," the expert explained.

On the flip side, growing fears in the banking sector are benefitting cryptoassets. The poor quarterly figures released by First Republic Bank, which plunged 29% on Wednesday after losing almost 50% on Tuesday, have pushed investors to believe that the pattern observed during the banking crisis unleashed by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which boosted the price of cryptocurrencies as they were seen as a safe haven, is repeating itself.

At the same time, Meta's better-than-expected earnings, added to those of Microsoft and Alphabet (Google), also give cryptocurrencies a boost due to their high correlation with the choosy technological company Nasdaq.

On the technical side, César Nuez, technical analyst at Bolsamanía, stresses that the world's largest cryptocurrency "has not been able to hold on to the $29,000 support", while warning about the danger of losing $26,520. "If it loses these prices, it would complicate its good short-term technical aspect and we could end up seeing an extension of the falls to the vicinity of $24,000 and without ruling out a plunge to $20,000, prices where the 200-session average converges," he stated.

"We will not see a sign of strength again as long as it continues to trade below $31,200, the annual highs set in April," Nuez added.

In the rest of the market, some of the market's main tokens have fallen. Only Cardano (ADA) rebounds, around 0.8% in the last 24 hours.