Bitcoin (BTC) remains safely above 30k as the new week kicks into gear, with the BTC/USDT pair changing hands at US$30,420 at the time of writing.
Friday’s trading session saw bitcoin surge to a fresh 12-month high of US$31,40 before a spate of profit taking caused a bit of a correction over the weekend.
Bitcoin’s dominance of the wider cryptocurrency markets remains intact, with the benchmark cryptoasset’s US$591.5mln market capitalisation comprising 51.5% of the entire market.
Bitcoin (BTC) stays above 30k – Source: currency.com
Aside from a flight to quality among traders – a running theme for at least the past six months – bitcoin’s recent outperformance against the altcoin competition can be traced back to the sudden surge of institutional interest in the world's largest cryptocurrency.
As well as the launch of EDX, the new bitcoin-and-ether focussed cryptocurrency exchange backed by Fidelity, Charles Schwab (NYSE:NYSE:SCHW) and Citadel Securities, major money institutions including the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) are ramping up the pursuit of a bitcoin spot ETF.
It’s far from a done deal, particularly with the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s historical animosity to the idea, but the prospect of vast swathes of institutional money gaining exposure to bitcoin has nonetheless been a boost to spot prices in the short term.
Going by Binance’s order book, 30k appears to be a strong support line for the BTC/USDT pair, sparking hopes that the trading pair will sustain this price point for the time being.
Mixed bag for altcoins
ETH/USDT has consolidated around US$1.9k, having closed 30 dollars either side of that price point for the past four trading sessions.
Solid buyers’ support at US$1,860 is likely to help maintain this price point in the short term.
As for the wider altcoin space, Binance’s BNB token and Ripple (XRP) are the worst performers in the top-20 set, having dipped 2.5% and 1.5% in the past week respectively.
This is unsurprising given both projects continue to face intense regulatory scrutiny from US enforcement agencies.
On the flipside, Litecoin (LTC) and Polkadot (DOT) have managed to match bitcoin’s weekly performance with around 15% of gains each.
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