This week, the cryptocurrency market experienced significant volatility, with Bitcoin (BTC) retesting its local high of 69,500, last seen in July. Despite this attempt, BTC failed to break through and eventually retraced its gains, finding support at the 65,000 mark. Currently, BTC appears to be forming a consolidation pattern.

Institutional demand for Bitcoin ETFs remained robust, with net inflows amounting to $997.7 million for the week. This marks the third consecutive week of positive flows. Bitcoin dominance continues to rise, reaching highs of 59.75% for the week, stated QCP Capital. 

Conversely, Ethereum (ETH) faced challenges, with the ETH/BTC (ETHBTC) pair breaking its key support at 0.03850 and sliding 5.85% to a new low at 0.03625.

The market also reacted to reports of a potential US government investigation into Tether (USDT), causing a sharp decline in the price of the stablecoin. USDT tumbled to a low of 0.9965 before recovering above 0.9980s for the week. 

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has denied these claims, and it remains to be seen if the allegations are substantiated. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East further impacted the markets, with Israel launching retaliatory strikes on Iran following a missile barrage earlier this month. 

According to QCP Capital, these events, combined with the USDT fiasco, created selling pressure, with the DJIA and S&P 500 both down 0.61% and 0.03%, respectively. Crypto markets followed suit, with BTC briefly dipping to 65.5K.

As the week draws to a close, market participants are now focusing on the upcoming non-farm payroll data, which will provide further insights into the Federal Reserve's next course of action. The current odds of a 25 basis points rate cut in November sit at a comfortable 95.1%, with the market anticipating little surprise.

According to QCP Capital, the uptrend in Bitcoin dominance is likely to persist in the near term as Bitcoin approaches its all-time high (ATH) levels.