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Crypto prices have risen to end the week, along with stocks.
Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images
A rally in cryptocurrencies continued for a third day, following
Bitcoin
saw its best two-day stretch in more than a month as investors flocked back to risk-sensitive assets such as technology stocks and digital assets.
The price of
Bitcoin
has jumped 3% in the past 24 hours to near $24,000. The largest crypto rallied at the end of the week along with stocks following the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday and strong earnings from tech giants
apple
(ticker: AAPL) and
Amazon.com
(AMZN).
“Bitcoin got its groove back,” Edward Moya, an analyst at broker Oanda, wrote in a note. As of late Thursday, the token had seen its two best days since June 20.
While Bitcoin continues to trade at less than half of its November 2021 record near $69,000, the June low below $18,000 is firmly behind it. Now analysts and investors are watching to see if the latest rally has legs, or if Bitcoin will simply fall back and continue to stagnate in the $20,000 zone.
“Bitcoin is currently facing resistance at the $24,000 level, but if it cannot contain, the bull price could extend towards the $27,500 region,” Moya added. “A broad risk-asset rally is good news for crypto, but traders shouldn’t be surprised if this recent rally eventually fades.”
A sharp selloff in the crypto space this year saw the total market value of digital assets fall to $1.1 trillion from nearly $3 trillion nine months ago. The background for the decline has been both major forces and factors limited to the crypto market itself. A rally in stocks this week spurred by Federal Reserve policy and strong corporate earnings has in turn boosted digital assets.
While Bitcoin and its ilk should theoretically trade independently of mainstream finance, they have been shown to be highly correlated to stocks, and technology stocks in particular, after
S&P 500
and
Nasdaq Composite
lower this year. The meltdown of stablecoin Terra and the collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital have only exacerbated the pressure on the digital asset space.
“It is becoming clearer and clearer that Bitcoin has bottomed out. It is certainly possible that we could go lower than $18,000, but barring Black Swan events, I doubt it,” Garry Krugljakow, CEO of decentralized finance firm GOGO Protocol, wrote in a note.
As July draws to a close, analysts are eyeing the levels at which Bitcoin will end the month, having closed June below $20,000.
“The monthly close is something we will be watching closely, as well as any retests of key supports around $19,000 to $20,000,” Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto fund manager BitBull Capital, wrote in a note. “Successful bounces from that area could give bulls a solid foundation for a continued rally.”
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
– the second largest token – gained 3% to close to $1,700. The token that underpins the Ethereum blockchain has recently outperformed Bitcoin, hitting its best two-day stretch since January 2021 late Thursday.
Altcoins, or smaller cryptos, were just as buoyant.
Solana
rose 3% and
Cardano
rose 4%. Memecoins, originally intended as internet jokes, also advanced, with
Dogecoin
and
Shiba Inu
both 2% higher.
Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
