Bitcoin surged to over $ 52,000 on Wednesday and its market capitalization approached $ 1 trillion.
- As of 21:00 UTC (16:00 ET), Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at approximately $ 52,231.69. 7.16% gain over the last 24 hours.
- Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $ 48,430.80 – $ 52,536.47 (CoinDesk 20)
- BTC is trading above its 10-hour and 50-hour averages on the hourly chart, which is a bullish signal for market technicians.
Hunain Naseer, senior editor of OKEx Insights, said that just one day after Bitcoin crossed the basic psychological threshold of $ 50,000, its price rose above the all-time high of $ 52,000, “in the uncharted territory.”
Price volatility remains high when compared to major macro assets, including Standard & Poor’s 500 stocks, gold and bonds Index.
“We can expect a consolidation between $ 50,000 and $ 52,000 with a possible retest of the $ 49,000 support,” Naseer added.
A bullish signal: According to data from South Korea-based crypto data firm CryptoQuant, there are large reserves of stablecoins on cryptocurrency exchanges. This could indicate that traders have settled the stablecoins so that they can buy quickly if the price is correct.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju told CoinDesk that “too many stablecoins on the exchanges” compared to bitcoin held in the exchanges, pointing out that the selling pressure is relatively low.
In the derivatives market, bitcoin futures at Chicago-based CME recorded record high one-day trading volume and total interest on Tuesday. Data from blockchain analytics site Skew. Increased activity may be an indicator of increasing demand for bitcoin from institutional investors.
CryptoQuant’s Ki said institutional interest in Bitcoin is reflected in another market indicator called the Coinbase premium, which is a measure of the price difference between Coinbase Pro’s BTC / USD pair and Binance’s BTC / USDT pair. The number was positive on Wednesday.
“Coinbase [U.S. dollar] Whales are like the custodians of the bull market, ”Ki said of investors with large holdings.
Ether consolidates, corporate interest in futures increases
Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose on Wednesday, traded around $ 1,828.15 and rose 4.45% in 24 hours as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 pm ET).
Technically, ether is in a consolidation phase after losing short-term momentum, according to Fairlead Strategies technical analyst Katie Stockton.
“I find the consolidation healthy in the context of the steep uptrend,” Stockton said. “The 20-day moving average at $ 1,556 is an indicator of initial support.”
Ethereum’s correlation with Bitcoin has remained stable at around 0.68 this month after falling as low as 0.55 in January.
“As long as Bitcoin remains above $ 49,000, we can expect an uptrend in altcoins, including ether,” said Naseer of OKEx Insights. “But this will only happen when bitcoin’s volatility drops slightly.”
At the same time, institutional interest in ether futures has increased significantly, according to data provided by blockchain analytics firm Glassnode.
Glassnode “A week after the launch of ether futures at CME, the daily trading volume reached a total of $ 75.8 million yesterday, nearly doubling the $ 40 million volume on Friday,” wrote with tweet Wednesday. “Meanwhile, the open interest has risen to $ 62 million.”
Trader and analyst Alex Kruger said CME’s new ether futures contract, which was launched last week, could be one reason why the Ether price is underperforming.
“Ether is a high beta asset for bitcoin and it needs to move in line,” Kruger said. “Sometimes their technical and / or fundamental driving forces come into play and create price trajectories or performance differences.”
Other markets
Digital assets on CoinDesk 20 are mostly green on Wednesday. Major winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 pm ET):
- Oil rose 0.37%. Price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil per barrel: $ 61.22.
- Gold was 1.09% red and as of press date at $ 1775.03.
- The 10-year US Treasury bond yield fell to 1.286% on Wednesday.
