The crypto markets are on a tear right now, with benchmark cryptoasset bitcoin (BTC) surging past US$30,000 in this morning’s Asia trades.
BTC/USDT is facing the fourth straight day of strong gains, bringing its week-on-week performance above 21%.
At the time of writing, the pair was changing hands at US$30,085, just shy of the yearly high of US$31,000 achieved in mid-April.
There’s little wonder why bitcoin is seeing considerable upside - contentious though it has proven in the core crypto community, the launch of new crypto exchange EDX has evidently energised investors.
Backed by TradFi heavy hitters like Fidelity, Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) and Citadel Securities, EDX can potentially open bitcoin price exposure to millions of new, sophisticated investors.
Eyes are also on the UK today, with the Bank of England (BoE) expected to announce its latest rate hike. A 25 basis point minimum hike is basically a given, but 50 points cannot be ruled out either.
Risk assets like bitcoin would typically get sent lower on such an announcement, but with bitcoin on a rip, shorts shouldn’t bet too large on BTC/USDT downside.
On that note, nearly US$81mln in short-BTC positions were wiped from the market on Wednesday, the largest amount in at least three months.
Will bitcoin break above 31k? – Source: currency.com
Ethereum's (ETH) spot price is close behind bitcoin, surging 17% across the past seven days to knock above US$1,900.
Litecoin (LTC), the other major altcoin tradeable on the new EDX exchange, is up nearly 20%.
Other top movers in the altcoin space include Solana (SOL) and Polygon (MATIC), but the Shiba Inu (SHIB) meme coin is really leading the altcoin pack, surging 27% higher compared to this time last week.
SHIB added over 10% this Thursday alone, thanks to news that developers are working on a protocol designed to link real-world assets to NFTs as part of the Shibarium ecosystem rollout.
Bitcoin dominance holds strong
Though some altcoins are enjoying near-term upside, bitcoin’s dominance of the crypto markets remains in a strong position.
Currently at over 51% of the global crypto market cap of US$1.18tn, bitcoin’s dominance remains at 26-month highs, underscoring investors’ low appetite in the riskier altcoin market at the moment.
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