By Jack Denton
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rose Wednesday, benefiting from improved risk appetite in wider markets amid quarterly earnings season, which could help keep cryptos advance or potentially sour sentiment.
The price of Bitcoin has gained 1% over the past 24 hours to $66,700, trading within a range that has held for much of the past week. The largest digital asset remains firmly below its all-time high near $74,000 in mid-March, but is nearing key technical levels that, if surpassed, could help it climb higher.
"Bitcoin is avoiding sharp swings ... remaining inside the previous day's range. It looks like a very cautious testing of the 50-day moving average (now at $67,300), but just shy of surpassing it for the third day in a row," said Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at broker FxPro.
Crypto bulls continue to bet on gains from a change to Bitcoin's programmatic monetary policy called the halving, which completed late last week and represents a long-term pillar of support for prices. More immediately, action in the stock market was in focus amid first-quarter corporate earnings season.
Bitcoin has shown itself to be correlated with other risk-sensitive assets like stocks, often tracking the S&P 500 index and especially the tech-heavy Nasdaq, and typically benefits when risk sentiment improves across markets generally. The link to wider risk appetite is even more apparent for altcoins, or smaller cryptos, which generally are considered to be even more risky bets than Bitcoin.
"A rebound in risk appetite in stocks helped altcoins attract buying interest," said Kuptsikevich.
Indeed, earnings from Tesla late Tuesday have pushed the company's shares higher and set up the stock market for a strong start on Wednesday. That is likely providing support for Bitcoin, and sets the stage for results from another tech giant and member of the influential "Magnificent Seven" group of stocks later in the day, when Meta Platforms is due to report earnings.
Beyond Bitcoin, Ether -- the second-largest crypto by market cap -- jumped 3% to $3,250. Altcoins were higher, with Solana rising 3% and Ripple 1% in the green. Memecoins rose, with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu up 2% each.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com
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April 24, 2024 04:15 ET (08:15 GMT)
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