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eCash and Bitcoin Cash Lead Among Gainers as Bitcoin Brushes Off Sudden Drop Towards $30K
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Bitcoin surged past $31,000 on Monday to print a brief yearly high on the back of news of BlackRock submitting its updated spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application. In the latest action on Thursday, Bitcoin topped its previous yearly high in the morning hours, trading as high as $31,460, while altcoins put up a mixed display.
On the charts, the BTC/USD pair flipped $30.8K but failed to hold onto the momentum above $31K, crashing close to the $30K mark following the release of a US ADP private employment report. The report’s arrival, timing, caught US traders tracking the macro environment flat-footed, triggering a mild sell-off from impulsive hands.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) price chart: Source: TradingView
Ethereum, which has struggled to overcome the psychological barrier at $2,000 since May, faced resistance above $1,980 earlier this week, before further fading toward $1,900 across the midweek action. Trailing Bitcoin’s path in Thursday’s market-wide pullback action, the ETH/USD pair has dipped below $1,800 and was spotted at $1,875.
Notwithstanding the sharp correction, Bitcoin hard fork tokens, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) have remained among the day’s biggest winners, the former hanging onto 8.80% gains at writing. eCash leads the chart, seeing dwarfed gains of 16.39% in the last 24 hours per CoinMarketCap data.
To learn more about Bitcoin Cash, check out our Investing in Bitcoin Cash guide.
Storj (STORJ) has, on its end, crashed 15% in the last 24 hours as part of a correction move after the crypto storage token hit a ten-month high during the mid-week market action.
STORJ/USDT chart. Source: TradingView
The Ethereum-based token for the eponymous decentralized cloud storage platform rose to $0.55 on Wednesday before shedding a significant fraction of the gains. STORJ was changing hands at $0.37 at writing.
To learn more about Storj, check out our Investing in Storj guide.
Meanwhile, Celsius (CEL) token is one of the day’s biggest losers, down 7.02% to $0.157 at the time of writing, alongside Maker (MKR) and Fantom (FTM), which have retraced by a similar margin in the same period. CEL’s plunge has been triggered by bearish news of the US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) concluding an investigation into Celsius Network.
The CFTC reported in its findings that Celsius, under ex-CEO Alex Mashinsky, failed to register with the commodities authorities and neglected its obligations to investors by misleading them. These findings could evolve into a lawsuit if the majority of its commissioners find them solid grounds for pursuing legal action. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a suit against the company in January, claiming that it misrepresented its financial situation. It also alleged that Mashinsky defrauded millions of investors.
The latest market volatility on Thursday has seen more than $114.37 million worth of trader bets liquidated in the past 12 hours.
Thursday’s liquidated volume. Source: Coinglass
The now-erased positive action early Thursday before the midmorning slump came on the back of upbeat remarks from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who firmly referred to Bitcoin as an “international asset” in a late Wednesday interview with Fox Business. BlackRock refiled its submission for a Bitcoin spot-price ETF earlier this week after updating it by naming Coinbase as its ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner. Other applicants aggressively seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) similarly updated their filings.
Six-digit price bet
Elsewhere, in its latest price forecast, crypto services provider Matrixport said it expects Bitcoin to rally to around $125,000 by the end of next year. Matrixport founded the projection on Bitcoin’s post-halving rally between 12 and 18 months after the event. Bitcoin is set for a fourth halving cycle that will see rewards per block reduced from 6.5 BTC to 3.25 BTC sometime in Q1 2024.
“If history is any guide, bitcoin prices could climb by +123% over twelve months and by +310% over eighteen months – based on the average return of the signals triggered in 2015, 2019 and 2020. That would lift prices to $65,539 in twelve months and $125,731 over eighteen months,” Matrixport’s Thielen said.
To learn more about Bitcoin, check out our Investing in Bitcoin guide.
