Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have remained relatively stable in Asia after a promising U.S. Consumer Price Index pushed Bitcoin above $28,000. According to Katie Stockton, Founder and Managing Partner of Fairlead Strategies, the crypto market likes the lower CPI numbers, but she doesn't expect price appreciation yet. Stockton predicts that Bitcoin may pull back to its base breakout point of about $25,200, while Ether might outperform Bitcoin in the short term.

Bitcoin is struggling to find a new narrative that will drive its price from its current range of $25,000 to $30,000. Brent Xu, CEO and co-founder of Web3 bond-market platform Umee, believes that Bitcoin is oscillating during the existing market cycles and that we haven't reached the bullish momentum cycle yet. Xu thinks that liquidity will be important for crypto markets to thrive and that the next narrative needs to be a major innovation, such as the Shanghai Shapella upgrade or some major improvement to the Bitcoin blockchain.