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Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $40K Again While Ether Volume Is Erupting This Year
Bitcoin’s price is on a rising trend for the first time this week.
Updated Dec 10, 2022, 8:00 p.m. Published Jan 14, 2021, 9:30 p.m.
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After closing out last week at over $40,000 on Sunday, bitcoin hit that price again Thursday while traders are pushing ether volumes to new liquidity levels.
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- Bitcoin trading around $39,318 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 8.5% over the previous 24 hours.
- Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $36,125-$40,066 (CoinDesk 20)
- BTC above the 10-hour and 50-hour moving averages on the hourly chart, a bullish signal for market technicians.
Bitcoin’s price was back to bull mode Thursday, steadily climbing to as high as $40,066, according to CoinDesk 20 data. It’s a reversal from this week’s bearish-to-sideways action, with the world’s oldest cryptocurrency at $39,318 as of press time.
Read More: Bitcoin Bounces, Options Market Sees 20% Chance of $50K at Month’s End
“Bitcoin passing $40,000 was seen by many as inevitable, and reaching this level is just the continuation of a trend of smart money continuing to buy even as traders with less conviction shake out during sell-offs,” Guy Hirsch, managing director for U.S. at multi-asset brokerage eToro, told CoinDesk. The last time bitcoin was over $40,000 in the spot markets was Sunday, Jan. 10, prior to a precipitous fall opening the week.
“Institutions are still buying up BTC in huge quantities,” said cryptocurrency over-the-counter trader Alessandro Andreotti. “I think this rally can continue as before, but it’s too early to call.”
In the derivatives market, funding rates are still in positive territory, signalling that leveraged traders are more than willing to pay up to pile more margin on long plays, according to data aggregator Skew.
“High volatility is having little impact on risk appetite,” noted Denis Vinokourov, head of research at crypto brokerage Bequant. “Recent success in these opportunistic and somewhat ambitious market bets is also likely driving herd-like behavior.”
Indeed, volatility is high in the bitcoin market: The cryptocurrency’s 30-day realized volatility was at over 89% Wednesday, the highest it has been since April 17, 2020, when that metric was at 92% in the early days of coronavirus-induced turmoil across all markets.
Analysts don’t expect volatility in the cryptocurrency market to abate, which can actually be good for traders but can be horrendous for long-term investor balance sheets, particularly institutional funds with limited partners to whom they must answer.
“People need to understand that bitcoin is a hyper-asset with a built-in steam engine that is explosive up and down,” noted over-the-counter crypto trader Henrik Kugelberg. “With all the money printing and the sad developing spread of COVID-19 throughout the world, widespread agonizing economic hardship and a few more factors spell advantage to bitcoin.”
Chad Steinglass, head of trading for digital assets capital markets firm CrossTower, agrees gyrations in crypto will continue. “I believe that the trend of bull runs briefly interrupted by short duration profit taking dips will continue for the foreseeable future.”
Ether volume bonanza so far in 2021
Ether , the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Thursday, trading around $1,210 and climbing 8.5% in 24 hours as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
In 2020, ether volumes on the eight major CoinDesk 20 spot exchanges averaged $231 million per day. In 2021 so far, those volumes are up almost twelvefold, averaging $2.7 billion per day.
Brian Mosoff, chief executive officer of investment firm Ether Capital, noted decentralized finance, or DeFi, as a spark leading to volumes beginning to rise in 2020. For 2021, Mosoff cites the ongoing bull run and new derivatives tools coming online for traders.
Read More: Paxos Makes Fresh Push for DeFi Market With New Oracle Integration
“Although 2020 ended in a bull market, the first half of the year saw the ETH prices average just a couple hundred dollars and a lack of positive sentiment due to the prolonged bear market and then COVID-19,” Mosoff said. ”Adding fuel to the fire, 2021 has kicked off with the continuation of the crypto bull and the pending launch of the CME futures and institutions waking up to the narrative around Ethereum's value proposition.”
Other markets
Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are mixed Thursday, mostly in the green. Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
Notable losers:
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Equities:
- Asia’s Nikkei 225 ended the day in the green 0.85%, led by Japanese machinery order numbers that were higher than anticipated, signaling economic recoveryhttps://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210114_32/.
- In Europe the FTSE 100 closed climbing 0.84% as coronavirus vaccination deployments across the continent boosted sentiment.
- In the United States, the S&P 500 slipped 0.38% while investors took a wait-and-see approach on the details of incoming President Joe Biden's economic stimulus plan.
Commodities:
- Oil was up 1.4%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $53.59.
- Gold was in the green 0.12% and at $1,847 as of press time.
Treasurys:
- The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield climbed Thursday jumping to 1.126 and in the green 3.6%.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Crypto ETFs with staking can supercharge returns but they may not be for everyone
From yield potential to custody risks, here’s how direct ETH and staking funds compare for different investor goals.
What to know:
- Investors can now choose between owning ether directly or buying shares in a staking ETF that earns rewards on their behalf.
- While staking ETFs offers yield, they come with risks and less control than holding ETH in an exchange or wallet.
- Grayscale’s Ethereum staking ETF recently paid $0.083178 per share, yielding $3.16 in rewards on a $1,000 investment.
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