Bitcoin (BTC) continues to fly in the face of significant uncertainty in the traditional markets.
With Asian markets having a tough session, London’s footsie blue-chip index opening lower and US futures failing to deliver the good news, BTC/USDT has hit a new 2023 high, ramping above US$28,000 for the first time since June 2022.
BTC/USDT Hits New Annual Highs – Source: currency.com
Similarly impressive, open interest in bitcoin options has taken off, surpassing $10 billion for the first time since the November/December 2021 crypto bull.
The call-to-put ratio on open interest is almost 2:1, indicating predominantly buying interest in the market.
Turmoil in the banking sector, exasperated by today’s news of a massively discounted acquisition of Swiss G-SIB Credit Suisse by rival UBS, has revitalized bitcoin and its safe-haven status.
As an aside, both digital gold and physical gold are enjoying a rally, with the latter above $2,000 per ounce for the first time since mid-2020.
Pending interest rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England this Wednesday could act as a roadblock or a tailwind, depending on their perceived hawk or dove.
Meanwhile, Binance’s order book is showing a good deal of selling pressure at $28,500, which could act as a rejection point, but with bitcoin’s ongoing strength, nothing is certain.
Altcoins are falling out of favor
Bitcoin’s exceptional performance in the spot markets has not necessarily translated to the broader cryptocurrency markets.
In what appears to be a flight to quality of sorts, investors are snubbing more volatile, less perceived riskier altcoins.
Even Ethereum (ETH), the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, is significantly underperforming – ETH/USDT is up 12% week-on-week compared to BIT/USDT’s 27% rally.
As a result, bitcoin dominance (i.e. share of global market capitalization) continues to increase, reaching 47.7% from 42% before the recent wave of turmoil in the traditional markets.
Source: tradingview.com
Solana (SOL) had a strong overnight session in the top-20 set by adding 18%, but the ETH killer was significantly oversold and at $23.26 is still up 14% year-to-date.
Polkadot (DOT), Tron (TRX), Ripple (XRP) and BNB remained largely flat over the past 24 hours, while Polygon (MATIC) actually fell almost 2%.
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization is currently US$1.18 billion/US$634 billion excluding bitcoin, while the total value of decentralized finance (DeFi) is US$49.21 billion.
