Bitcoin Explodes to $24K as Ethereum Consolidates Above $1,500 (Market Watch)

Although Bitcoin’s price has lagged in recent days compared to Ethereum and some other altcoins, it caught up in the last 24 hours. BTC exploded by over 7.6% to reach $24K.

Bitcoin rises towards $24K

Over the past 24 hours, BTC finally managed to catch up to Ethereum and its ecosystem, rising over 7.6%. This saw the price almost reach $24K before retreating to where it is now trading at $23,500.

As shown in the chart above, Bitcoin is trying to break above the previously established range. To do so, it needs to consolidate and remain above $22,500. If successful, this could potentially open the way towards $27,000 and even higher.

Regardless, the cryptocurrency managed to close seven out of eight daily candles in the green. Today it will be the eighth candle if it remains positive.

The increased volatility has also caused many liquidated positions in the last 24 hours. In total, they amount to a little less than $300 million, of which $160 million were BTC positions. The largest single liquidation order occurred on FTX, and there was also a BTC perpetual contract with a face value of $3.24 million.

Ethereum consolidates above $1,500

Meanwhile, the ETH rally that we saw this past week is apparently cooling off. This is to be expected, given that the cryptocurrency increased by 50% in seven days. Over the past 24 hours, ETH has gained 1.6% and is still trading above $1,500.

As can be seen from the heat map above, the majority of the cryptocurrency market is painted green. Some of the more notable winners include Cardano (ADA) – up 10.7% on the day, as well as FLOW – up 11% on the day.

On the other hand, Ethereum Classic seems to have lost the most as it is down around 2% in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index shows that the market is currently in a state of fear, which is an improvement from the previous “extreme fear” phase. In fact, the last time market sentiment was this high was on April 10.