Monero eyes bullish rebound after 5% surge despite regulatory pressure

Monero is showing the first signs of recovery, gaining 5% in the last 24 hours and emerging as one of the market’s best performers.

At the time of this writing, Monero (XMR) was trading at $146.63 with a market cap of $2.7 billion, providing some relief to investors after a volatile start to October. Starting the month at $153.8, XMR fell sharply, falling to $142.96 on October 2 and falling to its lowest level of $136.43 the next day.

The drop coincided with the announcement that Kraken, a major cryptocurrency exchange, would delist Monero in the European Economic Area to comply with local regulations, likely in anticipation of the Crypto Asset Markets Act coming into force in December.

Kraken’s delisting adds to the downtrend

Kraken’s decision to delist Monero in the EEA sent shockwaves through the market and raised concerns about regulatory scrutiny surrounding privacy coins. Monero’s privacy-focused technology that hides transaction details has long attracted the attention of regulators, and the looming MiCA framework looks to tighten the noose even further.

However, the timing of Monero’s price drop attracted attention. Allegations that XMR began selling before Kraken’s delisting announcement sparked speculation that insiders may have acted on non-public information. This is particularly suspicious as Monero reversed that trend with a sharp downward move while the broader cryptocurrency market was recovering at the time.

It is now clear why XMR is declining while the rest of the cryptocurrency is pumping. Insiders knew Kraken was delisted from the EU.

— BawdyAnarchist (@BawdyAnarchist_) October 1, 2024

Despite the regulatory hurdles Monero faces, advocates of privacy coins remain optimistic. Many argue that Monero’s use case focusing on anonymous transactions ensures its validity regardless of exchange delisting.

According to a Monero advocate who goes by the name ‘Klaus’, “I believe that whether it maintains this price or falls below one dollar, whales will use this technology to transfer their wealth.”

However, the token has yet to fully recover from its October lows and trading volume remains weak. XMR’s daily trading volume fell 24.5% to around $67.8 million; This shows signs of waning trader interest.

XMR tests key resistance levels

From a technical perspective, Monero has rebounded from the critical support level of $134, which has remained stable since early July. The bounce has pushed XMR above the lower Bollinger Band, and the next significant hurdle lies at $163, the middle line of the Bollinger Band. Monero needs to surpass this level with strong momentum to confirm a sustainable uptrend.

XMR price, Bollinger Bands and MACD chart | Source: crypto.news

Beyond $163, the psychological resistance at $180, which rejected the upward price movements in both June and September, remains a formidable obstacle. Breaking these levels will be key for Monero to re-establish a stronger upward trajectory.

Technical indicators also paint a cautiously optimistic picture as the Moving Average Convergence Divergence remains in the bearish zone and the MACD line is still below the signal line. However, when the two lines get closer together, it indicates that the momentum may change soon.

If the histogram remains in the red, it implies that the selling pressure may weaken and the bulls may soon take control. Although volume levels are stable as of press time, they are insufficient to signal a decisive upward move. A stronger increase in volume will be required for Monero to gain the momentum needed for a stronger recovery.