Bitcoin 

BTC

$22,607

 price broke through the $35,000 resistance and appears to be stepping into a new range that would see the price trade between $38,000 to $40,000. Today’s recovery from the $34,000 level also appers to have invalidated what looked to be a bearish head and shoulders pattern forming on the 4-hour timeframe. 

Reclaiming the $36,000 level as support may also assist with squashing the infantile narrative that Bitcoin price was entering a new bear market after this week’s 26.5% plunge shaved off $200 billion from the total cryptocurrency market capitalization.

Despite this plunge, financial advisers continue to develop a more positive outlook on the top cryptocurrency as well as the growing DeFi sector.

The recent announcement from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) allowing banks to transact and custody stablecoins is being interpreted as a green light by the sector as a whole.

Proof of this comes today as custody provider Anchorage was just granted the first digital bank charter by the OCC. According to outgoing OCC chief Brian Brooks, the online future for finance is inevitable.

DeFi and altcoins show strength

The current market conditions continue to mirror the trend of previous cycles where Bitcoin price corrects sharply then consolidates after experiencing a period of parabolic growth.

During these consolidation phases traders tend to shift funds into altcoins and today’s increased volume and rallies from a number of altcoins re-enforces this theory.

As Bitcoin spent the early part of the day trading between $32,000 and $35,000 Ether 

ETH

$1,543

 pushed higher, gaining 3.96% to trade at $1,120 at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, Polkadot (DOT) was the breakout coin of the day, up 36.89% and trading near $11.30. Its sister chain Kusama (KSM) also received a boost in price as it rallied 21.25% to trade at $77.59

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $983.5 billion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 68.7%.