Benzinga - by Shivdeep Dhaliwal, Benzinga Editor.
Bitcoin and Ethereum traded lower on Thursday evening, while Dogecoin spiked at the time of publishing as the global cryptocurrency market cap declined 0.3% to $1.3 trillion.
What Happened: Bitcoin was down nearly 2% intraday, hovering just above the $34,000 mark as the recent crypto rally took a breather.
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded at 9:42 p.m. EDT) |
| Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) | -2.17% | $34,001.54 |
| Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) | -0.07% | $1,792.73 |
| Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) | +1.32% | $0.071 |
The exception to the rule were memecoins which continued to see upward momentum. Floki (FLOKI), a meme coin named after Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Shiba Inu dog was the top gainer of the day having shot up as much as 31% in a 24-hour window. Both Dogecoin and Shiba Inu (SHIB) were also noted in the green.
Top Gainer (24-Hours)
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded at 9:42 p.m. EDT) |
| Flok (FLOKI) | +31% | $0.00004 |
| Gala (GALA) | +7.12% | $0.02 |
| Neo (NEO) | +5.19% | $8.22 |
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On the macroeconomic front, the U.S. economy exhibited strong growth with the GDP rising at an annualized rate of 4.9% in the third quarter — above expectations of a 4.3% growth.
Data released Thursday by the Labor Department indicates that the number of Americans applying for jobless benefits rose in the previous week to 210,000 — an increase of 10,000.
"The weekly jobless claims report provided hints that the labor market is starting to weaken," said Edward Moya, a Senior Market Analyst with OANDA.
Analyst Takes: Cryptocurrency trader Michaël van de Poppe observed that the markets were "correcting." He urged his followers on X, formerly Twitter, to not panic.
"Missed the first run? Wait for these retraces and start scaling in slowly. Don't panic when markets correct, it's just part of the game."
Markets correcting. They always do, retesting previous levels before continuing.Missed the first run? Wait for these retraces and start scaling in slowly.
Don't panic when markets correct, it's just part of the game.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) October 26, 2023
Van De Poppe said that Bitcoin was fighting resistance at the $34,700 mark and a breakout there could lead to the $37000 to $38,000 level. The Amsterdam-based trader said, "Corrections are usually quite swift in upwards trends."
Still interesting to keep an eye on #Bitcoin.Fighting $34.7K as resistance, through which a breakout there should lead to $37-38K.
On the other hand, areas between $32.6-33.1K, if we get there, areas of longing.
Corrections are usually quite swift in upwards trends. pic.twitter.com/DTOYcoCQIK
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) October 26, 2023
Meanwhile, market intelligence platform Santiment noted that certain assets have been "under the radar" despite the vast majority of crypto having "flourished" in the second half of October. The platform said Ethereum, Cardano (ADA) and Stellar (XLM) were three such coins.