Bitcoin Taps $78K Ahead of Big Week, NEAR Dumps 6% Again: Market Watch

The broader market has remained untypically calm for a Monday morning but more volatility is expected as the week progresses. Bitcoin added over $2,000 since its multi-week low on Friday following the Binance hack, and currently fights to reclaim the $78,000 level. While ETH has neared $2,300 and TRX is up by 1.7% daily, most other large- and mid-cap alts are in the red today, led by NEAR’s substantial 6% decline. BTC Taps $78K The primary cryptocurrency spent most of the previous week trading sideways in a relatively tight range between $82,000 and $79,000. The lower boundary managed to hold the bears off for days, while the upper was challenged a few times, until Wednesday. As markets prepared for the key FOMC meeting, BTC went close to $82,000 on a couple of occasions but ultimately failed. Once the Federal Reserve announced that there would be no rate change this time, BTC jumped again and neared $82,000 for the third time in two days. However, another rejection followed, and the asset quickly returned to $81,000. Then came Friday morning and the devastating Binance hack in which the exchange lost $6.3 billion. The shockwaves sent through the crypto market were immediate, and b...