Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies were little changed Monday, with the notable exception of
Ether
—the second-largest digital asset—which continued its recent outperformance.
The price of Bitcoin has retreated 1% over the past 24 hours to $51,100, recently having traded above $51,800. The largest crypto is close to its recent peak near $52,800—the best levels since late 2021—but has failed to push higher while risk sentiment in wider markets remains positive, with the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500
sitting at record levels. Bitcoin still hs more than doubled in six months, largely driven higher by optimism surrounding the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which crypto bulls hope will usher in a fresh wave of investor interest.
“Altcoins are once again driving growth,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at broker FxPro. “Bitcoin and Ethereum are the cryptocurrencies of choice for institutional speculators. Their obvious trade right now is betting on the approval of spot ETFs on Ether. Speculators are cautiously locking in profits in Bitcoin, which has previously rallied on the same theme.”
Indeed, while Bitcoin has been on a tear, Ether recently has outperformed, up more than 35% in a month compared with Bitcoin’s 20% rise over the same period. There are signs that traders are speculating on the possible approval of Ether ETFs, but risk sentiment in digital assets may generally be leaking down into smaller tokens, or altcoins, which often is a sign that a crypto bull market is broadening.
Ether rose 2% to near $3,200. Altcoins were mixed, with
Cardano
down 2% and
Polygon
up 1%. Memecoins were weaker, with both
Dogecoin
and
Shiba Inu
falling 1%.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com
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