Bitcoin continues to steer other cryptocurrencies on a bullish offensive moving into the weekend after a strong week, with the entire crypto market gaining well over $300 billion in the month.

On Friday, Bitcoin’s daily candle closed at $44,340 after tapping $45,000 earlier in the day. Since Monday last week, the price has been on a bullish trajectory, with only a minor retracement occurring last weekend after the price tapped $42,000, a vital resistance that is now strong support for most traders.

On the other hand, Ethereum has also been on the move, outshining Bitcoin for the second consecutive week as it seems to have found a catalyst in the upcoming upgrade to a proof-of-stake network aimed at improving the network interoperability and scalability. “The Ethereum network’s next major, ambitious milestone will likely catalyze millions of new adopters,” Jamie Douglas Coutts, a senior market structure analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence wrote earlier this week.

On that note, Ethereum is up 24% compared to bitcoin’s 18% surge since March 14. At press time, Ether is trading at $3,113 after briefly touching $3,200 on Friday with prospects of price recoiling back to $3,000 this weekend before resuming an uptrend being on the table.

Cardano ascended to its highest level since about mid-February after crypto exchange Coinbase expanded its staking offerings to include ADA.

ADA rallied by about 18.09% to reach $1.18 — a level not seen in seven weeks. It’s currently the best performing asset in the top ten list with a 30% increase in the last 7 days.

That said, other cryptocurrencies continue to wait on the sidelines, after a successful upsurge in the last ten days. Since March 14, which is right about the same time Bitcoin started its ascension after a two-week-long sell-off, Solana and AVAX are up 15% and 12% respectively. Others like DOGE, XRP, and SHIB remain in a doldrum albeit registering feeble mark-ups.

As of now, traders are watching the $45,000 area for Bitcoin with recent price action suggesting that price could break above that resistance soon with technical indicators signaling incoming strength. Minor profit-taking along this area is also expected for traders who bought the mid-month dip, albeit in small sums.

An announcement this week that LUNA’s Terra is buying some $10 Billion worth of bitcoin as well as Russia’s feasible acceptance of bitcoin as payment for its energy exports is also viewed as a bullish catalyst for the price by many.

The air around regulation seems to also be cooling down, as nations such as the U.S. and the UK move in to Sketch regulations for cryptocurrencies, signaling incoming global acceptance.

Moreover, the Russia-Ukraine crisis has shed more light on cryptocurrencies, sparking global admiration for the ease and transparency at which they have enabled transactions when traditional financial institutions got overwhelmed.