Chainlink (LINK) Defies Market Sentiment, Bitcoin (BTC) Stalls at $26.5K (Weekend Watch)

Bitcoin failed to reclaim the $27,000 level yesterday and has stalled at around $26,500 as of now.

The altcoins are in no better shape, with minor losses coming from most larger-cap ones. Chainlink is the only one with a notable price increase.

BTC Back at $26.5K

Last week was expectedly less volatile, aside from a brief spike on Saturday that pushed bitcoin to a then-multi-day peak of $26,400. After failing to continue upwards, BTC retraced to $26,000 and spent the rest of the weekend there.

Monday didn’t start all that positively either, but finished that way. Bitcoin went on the offensive and soared above $27,000 for the first time in weeks. It dumped shortly after, but the bulls kept the pressure on and pushed the cryptocurrency to a new 20-day peak at $27,500 on Tuesday.

The next few days were rather calm, with BTC maintaining the $27,000 even after the US Federal Reserve’s decision to stop raising the interest rates. Yet, bitcoin’s momentum disappeared by Friday, and it fell down to $26,400.

It tried to bounce off by the end of the day but failed and currently stands at $26,500. Its market cap is south of $520 billion, while its dominance over the alts is still just inches above 49%.

BTCUSD. Source: TradingView## LINK in Green

Most altcoins are also calmer on a daily scale. On the one hand, ETH, BNB, DOGE, ADA, DOT, MATIC, and LTC have charted minor losses, while on the other, XRP, TRX, TON, and SHIB are slightly in the green.

Solana has retraced the most from the larger-cap alts, having lost over 1%. As a result, SOL struggles at just under $20.

In contrast, Chainlink’s native token has soared by about 5% and trades above $7. THETA is the other notable gainer from the top 100 alts, having surged by 8%.

Overall, though, the total crypto market cap has remained relatively still at just over $1.060 trillion on CMC.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: Quantify Crypto