Most altcoins posted a below-par performance in March, but XRP, XLM, CFX, XDC and MASK defied the trend by posting double-digit gains.
Altcoin Watch
Bitcoin’s dominance over the crypto market, which represents its share of market capitalization relative to the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, rose steeply from around 44% to highs of 48% in March.
While Bitcoin’s price increased by 22.7% during the month, most altcoins yielded subpar or negative returns. However, there were some outliers which showed a second month of positive momentum. Take for example, XRP, which saw steady positive momentum as investors expect a positive outcome in its U.S. court case against the SEC.
Conflux Network
Conflux Network continued its positive run from February, nearly doubling its price in March. The project’s team continued to strengthen its partnerships in China by adding XCMD, the world’s third-largest construction machinery manufacturer and Zen Spark Technology.
The Conflux team also supports the development of permissionless applications. It has established a grants program to promote its ecosystem development.
The CFX token tested the support between $0.10 and $0.20 and continued its positive run to reach a new yearly high of $0.46. The market structure of the token with higher highs and higher lows looks bullish, with a potential target of $0.80. It represents the breakdown level from the 2021 bull run.
XRP
Ripple’s chances of winning the court case against the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) improved on March 21 after the presiding judge, Analisa Torres, decided to exclude an expert’s opinion explaining how XRP could be a security.
On March 27, another U.S. regulatory move was a blessing in disguise for XRP holders. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the U.S. charged Binance with improper compliance procedures and market manipulation.
The regulatory body classified Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) as commodities in the filing. Some believe that this classification will extend to XRP as well. Thus, effectively refuting the SEC’s claim of XRP being a security. The market’s expectation of Ripple winning the case against the SEC pushed XRP’s price to new yearly highs.
If Ripple goes on to win the case against SEC, the bullish momentum in XRP will likely continue in the medium to long term.
XRP is currently facing resistance from the peak levels of 2022, around $0.53. A successful breakout above this level could launch the price toward previous support and resistance levels around $0.65 and $0.90.
Notably, the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI), which measures the momentum of price moves relative to volume, shows that XRP has reached overbought levels. It raises the possibility of a correction toward the $0.45 level.
Stellar
Stellar’s XLM token benefited primarily due to its strong positive correlation with XRP. The correlation coefficient between XLM and XRP price movement usually stays above 0.7.
Behind the scenes, the Stellar Organization is making efforts to increase the adoption of Stellar Network for remittances across third-world countries like Africa. Stellar is also working with international payments provider Money Gram to integrate the Stellar Network into facilitating global payments.
Technically, the XLM/USD pair has broken out above the resistance level of $0.10. If buyers consolidate above this level, the pair can target upside to $0.15 and $0.24. On the flip side, if the bullish breakout fails to materialize, XLM can fall back toward support at $0.08.
XDC Network (XDC)
XDC network combines a permissioned and public chain that addresses scalability and security. The XDC token is the fuel of the network used to pay network fees and deploy applications.
The network supports EVM-compatible smart contracts, protocols, and atomic cross-chain token transfers. It also fully complies with the ISO-20022 message standard, an internationally accepted standard for electronic data interchange between financial institutions.
The top public blockchains in the XDC ecosystem include Ecoin, Stasis Euro, and Gobiance Exchange. These are relatively lesser-known projects trading on second-tier exchanges like HitBit and BitMart. It paints a dull picture of the project’s ecosystem development with permissionless blockchains.
On the enterprise side, the project has established decent partnerships with brands like Travala and Guarda Visa cards.
The factors promoting the recent price increase include the introduction of a DAO and the active role played by the management firm, XinFin, responsible for the development and managing the blockchain.
XinFin recently decided to decentralize the governance of the blockchain by forming a DAO. After deployment in May 2023, the community will get to decide on the distribution of ecosystem funds to promote development. A Web3 meetup in Dubai hosted by XDC Network with over 60 developers worldwide also promoted the blockchain’s ecosystem growth.
The technical setup of the XDC/USD pair shows that it is at the edge of a bullish breakout. If buyers stage a breakout above the $0.045 level, the pair can likely shoot toward targets 0.064 and beyond. In case of a downside, the support level of $0.02 will be crucial for buyers.
The Klinger Oscillator, a momentum indicator, paints a similar picture with a reading at zero. Positive buying action from the current levels will move the indicator into positive territory, usually a bullish sign.
Related: Top 5 crypto winners (and losers) of 2022
Mask Network (MASK)
The Mask Network bridges Web2 and Web3, enabling cryptocurrency transactions directly through Web2 websites.
More than 40,000 users have installed the Mask Network Chrome extension. The browser extension currently supports several decentralized applications (dApps), including Uniswap and SushiSwap, and is compatible with many social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook.
The network’s Facebook integration has met with some complaints. After Elon Musk’s acquisition, it mainly benefits from its Twitter integrations and the hype around cryptocurrency integrations on the social media platform. This adds considerable speculation in the token’s price as the nature of Twitter’s adoption is still unknown.
On March 9, the token obtained a listing on the BTSE exchange, improving the liquidity and volume of the token. The project was one of the recipients of the ARB airdrop, receiving 257,540 ARB tokens.
The MASK token is the governance token for the project, which is discouraging as it does not accrue yield from the network’s usage. However, over 76% of the token’s supply is already in circulation; it has a relatively low inflation rate.
The MASK/USD pair broke above 2022 highs of $6.10, a positive sign for technical buyers. The RSI indicator is in bullish territory and has cooled off from the overbought region, providing room for more upside.
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