Ethereum crosses $2,300, BTC hovers around $43,500

Crypto market overview: The Bitcoin price movement in the last couple of days has been restricted under $44,000 as the market consolidates before another potential rally. On the other hand, ETH breaks another barrier of $2,300 and currently hovers close to $2,375 with 4.89 per cent gains in the last 24 hours. 

Solana has again turned out to be the top gainer with more than 12 per cent in the last 24 hours while Bitcoin lost 1.43 per cent. 

In other news, Jayant Sinha, the chair of the standing committee on finance in parliament, during the India Blockchain Week underlined that India is likely to see a crypto/Web3 bill in the next 12 to 18 months, owing to multiple factors.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index also remains unchanged reflecting strong consolidation in the market. 

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Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Lead, CoinSwitch Ventures, while talking to Republic Business said, “Bitcoin seems to be consolidating on the second day in a row, trading around $43,000; still up by 14 per cent in the past 7 days. The global crypto market capitalisation, however, seems to have gained 1 per cent since yesterday, reaching the $1.7 trillion mark—the highest in the past 7 days. Overall, BTC has had a healthy performance till now, with the recent vertical accumulation, driving the price. The current phase of sideways correction is good for building steam for the next leg-up. If this trend continues, analysts predict the next stop for BTC will be $46,000.”

“Beyond BTC, ETH and SOL drove the overall market gains in the last 24 hours. Crossing the $2,300 mark, ETH hit its highest level since May 2022. Replicating the trend, ETH-adjacent cryptos saw an uptrend too, including ETC and LDO. Ethereum scaling networks Optimism (OP) and Arbitrum (ARB) native tokens rose by 28.3 per cent and 11.6 per cent, respectively,” added Parth. 

CoinDCX Research Team also shared their market insight highlighting the trends of profit booking earlier this week. CoinDCX said, “In the past day, BTC encountered a dip to $43,000 during the day, pulling back from its swift ascent to nearly $45,000 earlier this week. This suggests that traders opted to secure profits after the largest crypto breakout from $38,000 a week ago. On the flip side, ETH witnessed a 5 per cent upswing over the same period, reaching $2,372, marking its highest level since May 2022. This upward movement also positively influenced the prices of other ETH-related cryptocurrencies, positioning them as the top performers of the day. Ethereum's upsurge is credited to heightened institutional interest and the hopeful anticipation of an ETF approval by the SEC.”

Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin, said, “The altcoin space seems to be giving tough competition to crypto king Bitcoin. If we look at the 24-hour data, Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin by almost 6 per cent while other altcoins like ADA, SOL, and MATIC witnessing significant surges in their prices. Overall crypto market cap has crossed the $1.6 trillion mark moving swiftly towards touching the $2 trillion mark. The current market momentum is expected to be sustained owing to positive macroeconomic factors.” 

Underlining the importance of US November non-farm payroll data for crypto market, Sudeep Saxena, Co-founder, CoinGabbar, said, “On Thursday, Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a temporary halt in its rally, giving prominence to prominent cryptocurrencies Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL), both reaching a fresh 19-month high. The cryptocurrency market is eagerly awaiting the release of November's non-farm payroll data. Meanwhile, the US 10-year Treasury yield saw a marginal uptick following lower-than-expected weekly jobless claims.”

Simultaneously, a recent analysis report from Glassnode has noted that BTC inflows and outflows from exchanges have observed a 220 per cent increase, from $930 million at the beginning of the year to over $3 billion in recent times. The report further underlines the expanding interest from investors in risk-on asset classes including crypto. This makes sense as many are also expecting a Santa Claus rally, driven by various factors including hopeful investor sentiment, holiday bonuses, and tax adjustment before the year ends.