By Jack Denton
A rally in cryptocurrencies continued for a third day, after Bitcoin saw its best two-day stretch in more than a month as investors piled back into risk-sensitive assets like tech stocks and digital assets.
The price of Bitcoin has jumped 5% over the past 24 hours to near $24,000. The largest crypto has rallied into the end of the week along with stocks following the Federal Reserve's latest decision on monetary policy 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 best two days since June 20.
While Bitcoin continues to trade at less than half its November 2021 all-time high near $69,000, the June bottom below $18,000 is firmly behind it. Now, analysts and investors are watching to see whether the latest rally has legs, or whether Bitcoin will simply fall back and continue to stagnate in the $20,000 zone.
"Bitcoin is facing tentative resistance at the $24,000 level, but if that can't contain the bulls price could extend towards the $27,500 region," Moya added. "A broad rally for risky assets is great news for crypto, but traders should not be surprised if this recent stock market rally is eventually faded."
Beyond Bitcoin, Ether -- the second-largest token -- gained 7% to above $1,700. The token underpinning the Ethereum blockchain has recently outperformed Bitcoin, and by late Thursday had notched its best two-day stretch since January 2021.
Altcoins, or smaller cryptos, were similarly buoyant. Solana soared 9% and Cardano climbed 7%. Memecoins, which were initially intended as internet jokes, also advanced, with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu both 6% higher.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@dowjones.com
$(END)$ Dow Jones Newswires
July 29, 2022 05:54 ET (09:54 GMT)
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