How long can bitcoin (BTC) keep its head above 30k?
The world’s largest cryptocurrency shot above the all-important price point this time last week, and for the most part, has stayed there since.
Yesterday’s session saw BTC close 1.4% higher at US$30,700, and though the BTC/USDT pair dipped about 1.1% in this morning’s early trades, at US$30,350, that’s still a good bit of water between now and 30k.
Furthermore, Binance’s order book shows a large chunk of buy-side orders at 30k which should act as a bullish support.
Bitcoin (BTC) stays above 30k – Source: currency.com
Open interest in bitcoin futures remains high at US$10.3bn, particularly on the Binance exchange, although spot trading volumes have cut a downward trajectory in recent weeks and months.
Hype surrounding the launch of the Fidelity and Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW)-backed bitcoin exchange EDX, coupled with the tantalising prospect of a BlackRock-run spot bitcoin ETF, have been the main catalysts behind the latest rally.
Good news for profit takers, but it should be taken into account that sentiment could easily flip should any/all of these projects turn out to be a fizzer.
Sustained trading volumes and prolonged investor interest are the tailwinds necessary to keep bitcoin in a bullish position.
Ethereum and altcoins underperform
Over to Ethereum (ETH), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency closed 1.65% higher at US$1,889 yesterday before dipping 2% to US$1,850 this morning.
ETH has underperformed against bitcoin throughout June (after a bullish May), dipping over 10% on the ETH/BTC pair since the first of the month.
In the wider altcoin space, most of the blue chips have significantly underperformed, with Ripple (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC) and Binance’s BNB token all posting negative returns across the past seven days.
Tron (TRX) and Polkadot (DOT) are two notable outliers, adding 4% and 6% respectively.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at US$1.17tn, with total value locked across all decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols clocking in at US$44.5bn.