Market Wrap: Bitcoin Continues Its Upturn, Rests Comfortably Over $20.7K

Bitcoin (BTC) continued its recent surge, cracking $21,000 at one point after Canada’s central bank raised its main interest rate less robustly than expected, and despite disappointing earnings late Tuesday by Google parent Alphabet and software giant Microsoft. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at about $21,700, up more than 2% over the past 24 hours amid the Bank of Canada’s approval of a 50 basis point (BPS) hike instead of 75 BPS. The bank noted its concerns about the slowing of the economy. Central bankers globally have been trying to tame inflation without sparking a steep recession. On Tuesday BTC topped $20,000 for the first time since Oct. 5.

Ether (ETH) was recently changing hands above $1,550, a more than 5% gain from Tuesday, same time, tacking onto its more than 11% increase of the following day. The second-largest crypto in market value has reached its highest level since mid-September.

Most major altcoins were well in the green, with popular meme coins DOGE and SHIB up more than 12% and 4%, respectively. The former’s rise comes amid the approaching close of billionaire entrepreneur and DOGE enthusiast Elon Musk’s acquisition of social media platform Twitter.

The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), a broad-based market index that measures the performance of a basket of cryptocurrencies, climbed 3.09% over the past 24 hours.

In traditional markets, U.S. stocks slumped after rising the previous two days as investors mulled over the tech industry’s struggles, which are likely to continue. Embattled social media platform.

In commodities, Brent crude oil, a measure of energy markets, rose to $94 per barrel, up about 0.27% from the previous day. Three weeks after OPEC announced it was cutting production, investors remain fretful about energy prices. Brent crude is up more than 15% since the start of the year. Safe-haven gold was up 0.7% at $1,664 per ounce.

Housing starts plunged nearly 11% in September, continuing a recent trend that some observers of U.S. monetary policy hope will enable the Federal Reserve to ratchet back its recent monetary hawkishness. The most recent decline comes as mortgage rates top 7%, reaching a two-decade high.

The University of Michigan’s monthly Consumer Sentiment Index on Friday will offer fresh insight into the public’s perceptions about the economy. “Bitcoin is now comfortably above the $20,000 level and now it will try to stabilize here until the [Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee] meeting,” Moya wrote. “If risk appetite remains healthy, bitcoin could grind higher towards $22,500 level.”

By Glenn Williams Jr

Bitcoin and ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, recently rose 3.3% and 6.7%, respectively, over the past 24 hours. On Tuesday, BTC crossed $20,000 for the first time since Oct. 5, while ETH topped $1,500 for the first time since the Sept. 15 Merge, the Ethereum blockchain’s technological overhaul. Whether a new longer-range upturn is afoot or BTC and ETH prices are likely to revert to the mean is still unclear.

Technically, both BTC and ETH blew past traditional “overbought” metrics on their hourly charts, and have since retreated. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) shot past 90 for both BTC and ETH on their hourly charts.

As those levels fall well outside the range of normal hourly RSI movement, the RSI may cool, at least from an intraday perspective. Current daily RSI levels for BTC and ETH are both approximately 71.

Read the full technical take by CoinDesk analyst Glenn Williams Jr.

Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) is a broad-based index designed to measure the market capitalization weighted performance of the digital asset market subject to minimum trading and exchange eligibility requirements.