Share this article
Bitcoin Holds Above $40K After Fed Hike, Avalanche’s AVAX Leads Gains Among Crypto Majors
Cease-fire talks could reverse a bearish trend, one analyst said.
Updated Apr 10, 2024, 2:18 a.m. Published Mar 17, 2022, 11:06 a.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Bitcoin held above $40,000 on Thursday amid a broader uptick in global equities as the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) hiked interest rates by 0.25% as expected.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the U.S. economy was “very strong” and could handle monetary tightening, causing a jump in equities. Meanwhile, the Bank of England will also holds its policy meeting on Thursday and is expected to raise interest rates to pre-COVID levels.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
U.S. futures shed 0.51% during European trading hours ,while Brent crude oil futures jumped 4% to nearly $100 a barrel. Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose 0.22%, while Asian markets added a second day of gains with Hong Kong’s Hang Sang index rising 7% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 increasing 3.46%.
Bitcoin added nearly 4% over the past 24 hours to trade at $41,640 before traders took profits. Ether added 4.7% to weekly highs of $2,790, and Terra’s LUNA lost 0.6% in 24 hours.
Avalanche’s AVAX rose over 11% in the past 24 hours to lead gains among major cryptocurrencies as Terra’s UST stablecoins were deployed on the Avalanche network. Users can now deposit, borrow and earn yields on UST deposits using Avalanche.
Investors tied ether’s gains to successful testing on the Ethereum network ahead of its move to a proof-of-stake network.
“Ethereum showed bullish movements on the back of its successful merge on the Kiln testnet, a fundamental milestone in its path toward the transition to proof-of-stake in the course of the year,” Fabio Pezzotti, founder of crypto investment firm Iconium, said in a Telegram message.
“We expect the main assets to gain momentum amid positive developments regarding a cease-fire in Ukraine, which would likely revert the bearish trends of the last few months,” he added.
Crypto market capitalization grew by 4% over the past day to $1.82 trillion. The Bitcoin Dominance Index rose 0.2 points to 42.8%. The Fear and Greed index – which calculates market sentiment – added 3 more points in the day to take the “fear” level to 27 suggesting improved sentiment among investors.
Meanwhile, some analysts said strength in bitcoin was buoyed by positive sentiment for the asset among traders.
“Since the last days of February, there has been a solid support line on the declines under $38,000," Alex Kuptsikevich, a market analyst at FxPro, wrote in an email to CoinDesk. “And this is bullish strength, reflecting that long-term buyer interest has migrated from $30,000 to $38,000 due to inflation and geopolitical tensions.
“Such a migration of the level of interest to long-term buyers fully reflects the price jump, which is the actual depreciation of the value of fiat currencies,” he added.
Más para ti
Bitcoin could fall to $10,000 as U.S. recession risk builds, Mike McGlone says
McGlone links bitcoin’s downturn to record U.S. market cap-to-GDP levels, low equity volatility and rising gold prices, warning of potential contagion into stocks.
Lo que debes saber:
- Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone warns that collapsing crypto prices and a potential bitcoin slide toward $10,000 could signal mounting financial stress and foreshadow a U.S. recession.
- McGlone argues the post-2008 "buy the dip" era may be ending as crypto weakens, stock market valuations sit near century highs relative to GDP, and equity volatility remains unusually low.
- Market analyst Jason Fernandes counters that a drop to $10,000 bitcoin would likely require a severe systemic shock and recession, calling such an outcome a low-probability tail risk compared with a milder reset or consolidation.
Top Stories
