The past two weeks have been uneventful in the crypto market. Cryptocurrency prices have mostly been moving sideways since the major rally in late August. Many market signals suggest that a new bull market has begun, but the final confirmation is still missing.
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Bitcoin price rise stalled at important resistance level
At the time of publishing this market review, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around $77,800. At the time of the previous market review, the price was $69,700, which indicates approximately a 12 percent increase over two weeks.
Next, let’s look at Bitcoin’s price on weekly candles. The blue trend line is the 50-week moving average, and the purple trend line is the 200-week moving average.
Two weeks ago, Bitcoin price saw a weekly increase of almost 24 percent. This was the biggest weekly price change since March 2023. As you can see from the graph, the price rise stalled at the $79,500 level, which had already halted 4 other weekly candles in 2026.
Last week, Bitcoin’s price continued its upward trend, hitting $81,500. At that point, the price reached the 50-week moving average, which acted as strong resistance. The beginning of May also saw the weekly candle close at $82,200, very close to this level.
Although the Bitcoin price has not continued its rise to new highs over the past two weeks, it has not started a decline either. The price has mainly moved between $77,000 and $80,000.
Many investors are expecting a correction towards $73,000, which is the ceiling of the blue consolidation channel shown in the graph. If the Bitcoin price were to successfully test this level and make it a support for a new price rise, it would be a very positive signal.
The situation becomes worrying if the Bitcoin price falls back into the consolidation channel and approaches $70,000.
War in Iran and rising interest rates make investors nervous
The halt in Bitcoin’s price rise is not surprising given the global macroeconomic situation. More and more investors are nervous about the rise in government bond yields in August and September.
This is also a significant topic for the crypto market. The price rally seen two weeks ago was triggered by the US Treasury Department’s measures against rising interest rates. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s announcement caused Bitcoin and gold prices to skyrocket almost instantly.
However, the situation is not improving. Japan’s long-term interest rates are higher than they have been in 30 years, and the same trend is also visible in Europe.
🚨 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ARE HAVING THEIR OWN BOND CRISIS.
Germany's 10-year yield hit 3.38%, the highest since 2011.
France's 10-year yield hit its highest level since November 2008, nearly 18 years.
Italy's 10-year yield is at 4.246%, a near 3-year high.
Spain's 10-year yield… pic.twitter.com/yHSb8ZhFRt
— Bull Theory (@BullTheoryio) September 2, 2026
Why are high interest rates a problem for risky assets like stocks and crypto? Imagine a situation where you could earn 10% interest on your money in a high-interest bank account and lock in that interest rate for years or even decades. How much money would you move out of the stock market into this account instead? Probably quite a lot.
The higher interest rates rise, the more attractive this so-called risk-free return becomes. High interest rates also reduce the theoretical value of stocks through discounting, because they reduce the present value of future cash flows.
Ironically, as interest rates rise, the probability of a Fed rate hike in September has also increased significantly. This is also not good news for stocks and crypto.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Federal Reserve is now projected to raise interest rates by 25 bps in September. pic.twitter.com/S3tFvWrkD1
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) August 31, 2026
Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh spoke at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium a week ago. Warsh’s tone was considered unnecessarily “hawkish” by investors, which led to a negative market reaction.
Another theme making investors nervous is the war in Iran. The situation in the Middle East calmed down during the summer, and the war began to slowly disappear from the news stream. Recently, missiles have started flying again.
The biggest issues with the Iran war have not been resolved. The United States has no chance of a military victory, and Iran has no motivation to make a peace deal, because a prolonged war causes political pressure on Donald Trump due to the approaching midterm elections. The situation is a stalemate.
In addition, it is worth remembering that September is historically the weakest month of the year for the stock market. The major stock indexes have been mostly stagnant in recent months. Below is an example of the S&P 500 index’s development.
It would not be surprising if the stock market were to see a 4-5% correction in September due to the macro uncertainty and seasonality. This would certainly be reflected in the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Investors should be prepared for a crypto correction in September.
No significant changes in altcoin prices
Over the past two weeks, there have been no significant changes in the top 15 cryptos. As usual, the entire crypto market is moving in the direction indicated by Bitcoin. The image below shows the performance of the 15 largest cryptocurrencies over 24-hour, 7-day, and 30-day periods.
In the big picture, the situation is quite positive for altcoin investors. The price chart of the largest altcoins looks even better than Bitcoin from a technical perspective. Below is an example of Solana’s price with daily candles.
As you can see from the graph, Solana’s price has risen well above its 200-day moving average, which is often considered a classic bull-bear market boundary. Unlike Bitcoin, Solana has also exceeded its early-year peaks by a fair margin.
There is also a so-called Golden Cross in Solana’s price, which means the intersection of the 50-day and 200-day moving averages. This has historically been one of the best signals confirming the start of a bull market.
In 2023–2025, the bull market was very driven by Bitcoin. Major altcoins such as Ethereum and Solana barely broke their 2021 peaks, and the development of many other altcoins fell far short of expectations. This time, altcoins have reacted really positively. At least the first signals are promising.
Hyperliquid should also be mentioned separately. We have repeatedly emphasized that it is one of the most promising altcoins. Last week, Hyperliquid set another price record, rising above $80 for the first time. The new ATH for Hyperliquid is $86.66.
A little over a week ago, there was also positive news regarding HYPE’s fundamentals.
Hyperliquid Officially Activates "AQAv2" to Buy Back and Burn HYPE with USDC Reserve Yield
Hyperliquid announced the activation of its "AQAv2 (Aligned Quote Asset v2)" framework starting August 26, which directs yield generated from USDC reserves toward programmatic market… pic.twitter.com/3Np1YerhyX
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 26, 2026
The Hyperliquid exchange holds billions of dollars in USDC stablecoins, as trading takes place on USDC exchange pairs. USDC issuer Circle earns an annual return of several percentage points on the government bonds that back these tokens. In the future, Circle will pay most of this return to Hyperliquid, which will use the funds to buy HYPE tokens from the market. This increases buying pressure on the token, which positively affects its price.
Hyperliquid already uses almost all the funds collected as trading fees to buy HYPE tokens.
Has the bull market begun?
Finally, let’s look at the big picture of the crypto market. The biggest question right now is whether Bitcoin (and the crypto market more broadly) has started a new bull market. From Bitcoin’s perspective, the answer to this question is: the bull market has probably started, but the final confirmation is still missing.
Let’s look at Bitcoin’s price on a daily candles. The purple trend line is the 200-day moving average, and the blue trend line is the 50-day moving average.
As you can see from the chart above, Bitcoin’s price broke the 200-day moving average convincingly two weeks ago. This has marked the start of a new uptrend historically after a long period of decline. The price will also likely form a Golden Cross next week, when the 50-day moving average crosses the 200-day moving average.
However, there is one more important obstacle that Bitcoin’s price has not overcome. Namely, it is still below the spring highs. As long as Bitcoin’s price does not close above $83,000 on the daily and weekly charts, the “lower lows and lower highs” trend that began in October 2025 is still valid.
If Bitcoin’s price were to rise above $83,000, it would also rise above the 50-week moving average, which, like the 200-day moving average, is a very important milestone for bull and bear markets.
As we noted earlier in this article, September is likely to see a correction in stocks and crypto. How far will this correction go? Will the decline stop at important support levels? This price action says a lot about whether a new bull market has really begun.
In summary, there are many signs that a bull market is beginning. It is also very positive that the charts of the major altcoins look even better technically than Bitcoin.
However, the final confirmation is missing. So it is still possible that this is just a rally in a bear market and that we will return to new lows in September. However, this probability is quite small.