The crypto markets are seeing mixed results to start the week. Bitcoin is trading just below $22,000, struggling to break above resistance at $22,500. Meanwhile, Ethereum is holding steady above $1,500 as anticipation builds for the upcoming Shanghai upgrade.
On the altcoin front, some of the biggest movers today are NEAR Protocol (NEAR), up 12%, and Avalanche (AVAX), up 8% on the day. NEAR is benefiting from growing hype around its upcoming Metaverse projects, with increased adoption of its Aurora and Octopia ecosystems. Avalanche continues to see funds flowing into DeFi apps and NFT markets on its platform.
However, not all alts are seeing gains. Solana (SOL) is down 6% after prolonged network outages over the weekend raised more concerns about its reliability. Crypto traders are questioning if Solana can scale as advertised. The outages are the latest in a string of network disruptions for Solana in 2022.
Overall crypto market capitalization stands at $1.05 trillion, similar levels to last week. Trading volumes have picked up today but remain lower compared to earlier this year.
Some key events to watch this week:
- The Fed meets on Wednesday and is expected to raise rates by 75 basis points. Crypto prices could see volatility around the announcement.
- Ethereum's Shanghai upgrade is tentatively scheduled for Thursday. The upgrade could burn more ETH and make the network deflationary.
- Bitcoin options expiry on Friday could lead to increased volatility. Over $500M of BTC options will expire on October 28th.
