Major cryptoassets gave back some of their previous gains in early European trading on Friday after a strong overnight session that briefly sent bitcoin (BTC) above the USD 22,000 mark, helped by improving risk sentiment on Wall Street on Thursday. Despite the losses in early trading, the coin remained in positive territory for the past 24 hours.
At 13:30 UTC, bitcoin stood at USD 21,366, up 5% for the past 24 hours and up 9% for the past 7 days. Meanwhile, ethereum (ETH) traded at USD 1,210, up 2% for the day and up a 15% for the week.
Friday’s modest gains for the two largest coins came after a strong day in the US stock market on Thursday, when the broad S&P 500 index gained some 1.5%, marking its fourth consecutive day of gains. At press time on Friday, however, the risk-on sentiment appeared to have weakened, with S&P 500 futures indicating an opening 0.6% below yesterday’s closing price.
Analysts at the crypto exchange Bitfinex said in an emailed market commentary on Friday that,
“An inherent resilience that cryptocurrency has displayed in recent weeks in the face of a wave of liquidations and solvency issues has come to the fore today as the market enters the green zone.”
They added that “hedge funds betting on wider contagion and market capitulation” are now “licking their wounds” after gains for both BTC and ETH, and said it will be interesting to see if the crypto market can continue rising this month.
“Bitcoin has been bolstered by an increased appetite for risk, as evidenced by a four-day winning streak in the US’s S&P 500 where battered technology stocks have also rebounded,” the analysts said.
According to the well-known crypto proponent and CEO of Galaxy Digital, Mike Novogratz, the worst is likely already over
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