Last week, top cryptocurrencies showed a strong recovery. The global market capitalization surged 7% to $2.41 trillion. The growth reflected an increase of $160 billion in valuations, driven by sharp gains in most leading cryptocurrencies.
Here is a selection of the most noteworthy cryptocurrencies to watch this week:
SOL, BONK and FMT Prices – May 19
SOL retests 1-month high
Solana (SOL) emerged as one of the top cryptocurrencies last week despite initially experiencing range-bound movement.
The week opened with a move below the key $150 level and it struggled to show strength amid a bearish broader market.
Following Bitcoin’s (BTC) 7.52% surge on the release of the U.S. CPI data on May 15, the broader market has experienced an impressive uptrend. Solana capitalized on this momentum, posting an 11.61% gain. It finally broke through the resistance of the upper Bollinger Band on the daily chart.
The token closed at $158 on May 15 when trading platform Robinhood launched its Solana staking program in Europe, hoping to capitalize on the existing uptrend for larger gains.
The asset posted three consecutive intraday gains between May 16 and 18, breaking above the coveted $170 area to retest a one-month high of $176. Solana closed last week with a 21% gain, making it one of the best performing assets during this period.
BONK breaks through the 50-day moving average
Bonk (BONK) also started a bearish consolidation last week, following the downward trend observed in the previous week. But the memecoin took advantage of the market recovery on May 15 and recorded a daily gain of 8.42%, closing the day at $0.00002153.
This uptick led to a confident break above the 50-day moving average, which BONK had been struggling to surpass since May 10. The crypto coin surged to a 10-day high of $0.00002648 the following day, but resistance at that price level caused the price to plummet, resulting in an intraday drop of 3.9% on May 16.
Despite this loss, BONK remains above the 50-day SMA, suggesting that the bullish momentum remains intact. The next two days were particularly favorable, bringing gains of 9.88%. With BONK changing hands at $0.00002601, bulls will look to break above the upper Bollinger Band resistance ($0.00002748) to sustain the uptrend.
However, a pullback to the mid-line at $0.00002444 could sharply test the asset’s strength as a break below this level would signal a free fall to retest the 50-day moving average. BONK closed last week up 13.4%.
FTM surges 21% in one week
Fantom (FTM) opened last week more bearishly than the broader market. The asset plunged nearly 10% in the first three days of the week, while other coins witnessed range-bound price action.
Nonetheless, a market-wide rally following the release of the CPI data helped FTM recover all of those losses. As a result, it surged an impressive 18.22% on May 15, ultimately closing at a monthly peak of $0.7590. The last time Fantom closed a daily candle at this level was on April 20.
The sharp rise marked Fantom’s largest intraday gain since March 17, 2023, buoyed by a rise in the accumulation/distribution indicator. Notably, the indicator increased from 1.197 billion FTM on May 14 to 1.308 billion FTM on May 16, indicating an increase in buying activity.
Fantom ended the week with a 21% gain, mirroring Solana’s uptrend. At the current price of $0.8600, the asset needs to hold onto the Fibonacci 0.5 area ($0.7671) to hedge against last week’s low below $0.6600. Conversely, pushing above Fibonacci. 0.618 ($0.8741) could set the stage for a rally above $1.