Cosmos (ATOM) has reclaimed the $35 mark and is making steady progress higher, powered by a return of buyers into the crypto market once again even though market leaders like Bitcoin and Ethereum experience muted moves. At the time of writing, ATOM/USD is trading around $35.30, up by nearly 9% over the past week.

Cosmos’s Interoperability Gives it an Edge in the DeFi Space

Ranking as the 20th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Cosmos has been slowly gaining significant attention among investors and projects lately, especially on account of its key interoperability feature. Its IBC protocol facilitates communication and data transfer between different kinds of blockchains and crypto experts believe that this is one of the most important features required to sustain the growth of the market in the coming years.

It is one of the first and leading players in this space, giving it a distinct edge among other players in the DeFi segment. Even though its price action has been dull in recent sessions owing to the weak market sentiment, several analysts believe that Cosmos offers a greater potential for growth and adoption as an interoperable blockchain network, and can see considerable adoption among projects soon as a result.

Over the past one year, Cosmos has given investors an ROI of over 575%, with its price spiking by over 220% in the past three months alone. The explosive growth of DeFi markets even through the bearish periods in the cryptocurrency market have helped support and drive ATOM’s rise lately. However, the muted moves lately could be on account of a dip in real volume, driven by a cautious mood among investors ever since China termed all kinds of cryptocurrency transactions as illegal.

Termed as the ‘internet of blockchains’, several crypto analysts and traders have issued a bullish forecast for Cosmos’s price in the coming sessions. One such crypto influencer who operates under the pseudonym ‘Inmortal’ says that ATOM is ready to reach a new ATH, following in the footsteps of another DeFi player, Avalanche (AVAX). Another crypto strategist Pentoshi expects ATOM to post a multi-year breakout against market leader Bitcoin soon while it could surge to a fresh ATH against the US dollar, forecasting a spike to as high as $69-$70 in the coming weeks.

Key Levels to Watch

Taking a look at the 4-hour price chart of ATOM/USD, almost all moving averages as well as leading technical indicators MACD and momentum suggest a strong bearish bias. However, the 200 EMA and 200 SMA point to some interest among buyers as well.

It looks like Cosmos’s price is gearing up for a test of the pivot point at $37.81 soon. Although, an uptick in selling pressure could see a test of the immediate support at $30.82 instead, so keep an eye on the price action between these two levels.