Bitcoin tried to take down the $68,000 level with a brief increase above that level but has failed for now and sits just below it.

Nevertheless, its dominance over the market continues to rise as most altcoins have charted minor losses over the past day.

BTC Aims at $68K

After bouncing off from last Thursday’s dump below $59,000, the primary cryptocurrency went on the offensive hard and added four grand by the weekend. The bulls took full control at the start of the current business week, which led to a surge to $68,000 on Tuesday before a massive rejection pushed BTC south by over three grand.

However, that was short-lived and bitcoin started regaining traction almost immediately. This resulted in tapping $68,000 on a couple of occasions since then, which is the highest price tag the asset has seen since late July.

This comes amid a massive resurgance for the spot Bitcoin ETFs, which have seen over a billion in net inflows in the past several days.

Despite retracing slightly since the local peak from this morning, BTC is still close to $68,000. Its market cap is above $1.340 trillion, while its dominance over the alts is north of 55% on CG.

DOGE on the Run

After months of silence, Elon Musk resumed his public Dogecoin support yesterday, which led to immediate gains for the largest meme coin. In fact, DOGE is among the few alts with notable increases today, having surged by over 8%. Earlier today, the asset charted a new multi-month peak.

POPCAT is the other top 100 alt with a massive surge of 11%. INJ (6.5%), MEW (6%), and FTN (6%) follow suit.

In contrast, Binance Coin, Tron, Solana, Toncoin, Cardano, and Avalanche have charted minor losses. NEAR, SUI, and KAS have declined by up to 4%.

The total crypto market cap has increased slightly daily and is up to $2.436 trillion on CG.

After much confusion and speculation, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an appeal in its ongoing legal spat with Ripple Labs.

The appeal is challenging parts of Judge Analisa Torres’ 2023 summary judgment, which found that Ripple’s sales of its XRP token to retail investors on crypto exchanges did not break U.S. securities laws.

Ripple Executives Targeted in SEC Appeal

While many observers had anticipated the SEC to dispute the court’s verdict that programmatic sales of XRP did not meet the legal criteria for an investment contract, the agency chose to focus on other crucial facets of Judge Torres’ ruling.

One area the appeal is targeting is the court’s determination that Ripple’s offerings and sales of XRP on crypto platforms, as well as personal trades by the company’s executives, including Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, did not breach securities laws.

The regulator is also opposing the decision that found no violation of securities laws occurred when the crypto payments company distributed XRP in exchange for non-cash considerations.

In the same judgment, Ripple’s institutional sales of XRP were deemed to have been against securities laws. The company was forced to pay a $125 million fine for that violation.

The SEC had submitted a notice of appeal on October 2 and, by law, had a 14-day window to file Forms C and D. The forms were expected to provide more information on exactly what parts of Judge Torres’ ruling the agency would be contesting.

Late Filing Sparks Controversy

When the expected deadline came and went, seemingly without any action from the regulator, it sparked widespread speculation within the community, with many wondering whether it had deliberately jeopardized its long-running case against the crypto company.

Some experts had suggested that failure to file the requisite documents on time could result in the appeal being dismissed out of hand, possibly ending the SEC’s quest to overturn Judge Torres’ findings.

The apparent omission was even more surprising given the agency’s reputation for punctuality and the massive interest in the Ripple case.

Adding to the intrigue, when it was finally deposited, the SEC’s Form C was dated October 16, while the court’s file stamp on the document read October 17, further fanning speculation that the agency may have missed its deadline. However, Fox journalist Eleanor Terrett suggested that the notice of appeal may have been filed on October 2 but only appeared on the docket on October 4, meaning the actual deadline was October 18 at 11.59 PM.

Whatever the case, legal experts like MetaLawMan say the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal now has to decide whether the SEC’s filing was made within the allocated time.

On its part, Ripple has seven days to respond to the filing, with its Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty saying the company will do so next week.

This week, we examine Ethereum, Ripple, Solana, Dogecoin, and SUI in greater detail.

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum closed a great week with a 9% price increase after buyers dominated on Monday. Since then, the price has been cooling down a bit by moving sideways, but the bulls don’t seem to be satisfied, and they may be preparing their next offensive.

The current target for this rally is $2,870, which will likely see sellers attempt to regain control of the price action. However, the momentum on higher timeframes, such as the weekly, gives buyers the advantage.

Looking ahead, the market is heating up again, which gives hope for a sustained recovery. If bulls manage to break above the key resistance at $2,870, then ETH has a clear path toward $3,000 next.

Ripple (XRP)

XRP lagged behind the rest of the market but still booked a respectable 3% price increase this week. While buyers managed to hold the price above the support at 54 cents, they were unable to push it much higher, so the PA was rather flat.

Nevertheless, if the overall market remains positive, XRP could soon attempt to rally with the next key target waiting at 60 cents. Once that is broken, bulls can aim for 68 cents, which is the most important resistance on this chart.

Looking ahead, the bias is bullish right now, but there is little buy volume. This could change at any moment, and XRP could make a quick dash to higher levels. Keep a close eye on the 60 cents level, as that will be decisive for any successful breakout.

Solana also had a great week and closed with a 9% price increase. While this performance is encouraging, it was not enough to push the price above the key resistance at $164. This level continues to give problems for bulls, as they have been unable to break it several times since August.

Either way, the price action is making clear higher lows, which creates a bullish bias. Eventually, buyers will have another go at the key resistance, and if sufficient momentum builds up, they may be successful.

Looking ahead, if Solana manages to move above $164, it will finally be able to aim for $200 again, a level it lost in March. Good support is found at $134.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

After a mind-blowing 24% rally this week, DOGE doesn’t seem to have finished. This surge started after a clear breakout above 10 cents. Now, the price is just under the 13.5-cent resistance, which may not hold for long if this buying pressure continues.

The bullish momentum is very strong, and Dogecoin may be set to catch up with the other meme coins that ran in the past few weeks. Money may also be rotating back to DOGE, which seems attractive at these price levels.

Looking ahead, a breakout above 13.5 cents would set this meme coin free to aim for 20 cents again. The price action also shows a clear reversal and resumption of the bullish trend.

SUI

SUI broke a new record this week after making an all-time high at $2.36. However, sellers have returned since then, which pushed the price into a correction. Nevertheless, this cryptocurrency still closed the week with a 10% increase.

The current pullback may find good support at around $1.9, where buyers could be waiting to enter again and stop this correction. If so, higher levels will likely occur later on once confidence in this rally is restored.

Looking ahead, SUI is one of the few altcoins that managed to make an all-time high this year, which puts it in a very exclusive club. This is also a signal of strength to the market, which may allow SUI to enter price discovery and move much higher. Good psychological targets for this rally are found at $2.5 and $3.