Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies rose Tuesday as markets headed into a busy stretch, with a strong performance among smaller digital assets pointing to bullish sentiment spreading across crypto.
The price of Bitcoin has risen 3% over the past 24 hours to near $43,500, its loftiest levels in almost three weeks. The largest digital asset remains below its recent peak above $48,000—the highest point since early 2022—which was reached amid the trading frenzy around the U.S. approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
“Bitcoin has exceeded its 50-day moving average, climbing above $43,300. This is important but not yet solid evidence of a bullish trend,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at broker FxPro.
Indeed, Bitcoin recently has picked up steam, rising as the stock market surges to all-time highs, with the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500
closing at record levels on Monday. Cryptos are likely to react to similar catalysts as stocks in the coming days amid earnings from tech companies, the latest Federal Reserve monetary policy decision, and the U.S. jobs report—all of which could impact risk-sensitive assets.
But the recent strength in altcoins, or smaller tokens beyond Bitcoin and Ether—which is the second-largest digital asset—tell another story, as prices for these smaller cryptos recently have performed very well. Consider: While Bitcoin has risen 9% over the past five days, Cardano jumped 14%.
Solana
has soared by almost one-third in the last week. Even the joke-based “memecoin,” Dogecoin, has pushed higher.
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“Altcoins’ consistently positive performance over the past six days is setting up optimism, setting up Bitcoin for a test of $46,000,” said Kuptsikevich. “Outperformance in major altcoins points to a broadening of participant interest beyond the two largest coins.”
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
advanced 2% to above $2,300 on Tuesday.
Cardano
gained 8% and
Polygon
rose 2%.
Dogecoin
was some 1% higher with
Shiba Inu,
another memecoin, up 3%.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com
