By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – Most major cryptocurrencies were trading higher on Monday with Bitcoin trading in close proximity to $62,000. Outperformance was observed in some of the more prominent meme-based coins with Shiba Inu retracing some of the losses from the weekend to rise by over 15% in the last 24 hours.
Monthly cryptocurrency performance
October was a great month for cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin once again hitting an all-time high after previously trading at its peak in April. For the month, Bitcoin was up almost 40% and recorded its best monthly gain since December last year.
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum, had a similar performance, rising by around 43% in October.
Other cryptocurrencies with Decentralised Finance (DeFi) applications and smart contracts were mixed. Cardano, which was the third-largest cryptocurrency at one stage, shed over 7% of its value in October after falling 24% in September. However, the losses came amid a run in August that saw the coin’s value more than double.
Solana, which also uses DeFi apps on its network had slightly stronger gains than Bitcoin and Ethereum with the value increasing by 43% during the month.
Dogecoin gained marginally less, rising by 37% during the month, however, this was still its best performing month since April this year when the dog-based cryptocurrency rose over 500% amid a surge in interest from retail traders.
However, there was one coin that ruled them all in October, Shiba Inu. The cryptocurrency rose almost 830% during the month as the coin rocketed into the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, overtaking Dogecoin.
Outlook for cryptocurrencies
In the immediate term, focus could well fall on the key macro events in the US this week, including the Federal Reserve interest rate decision on Wednesday and Friday’s Nonfarm Payrolls report. A particularly hawkish Fed could put a cap on the rally especially if equities were to sell off in the wake of the decision. A decision that is perceived as dovish by the market could see Bitcoin retest its record high from 20th October.
On a technical level, the zone around $62,300-$62,500 remains key resistance for Bitcoin, which a break above could open the door to $65,000 and eventually the recent all-time high just below $67,000.
On the downside, support lies at the $61,300 pivot point before the psychological $60,000 level.