Good Morning! This is what’s going on today:
BTC surged over 11% from Tuesday to trade at approximately $24,625, its highest value since August.
Despite the possibility of a decline, investors boosted bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, by triggering a short squeeze. This unexpected spike was primarily fueled by short-selling investors who liquidated around $65 million of bitcoin over the past 24 hours, with $60 million from short positions.
Wednesday’s surge was likely a result of short sellers exiting their positions. The surge followed a muted Consumer Price Index, which eased investors’ concerns about the US economy’s future and the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy moves.
Other Major Cryptos Turn Green
Other cryptos turn green with Ether Rockets Past $1.7K – Ether and other major cryptocurrencies had an upbeat day on Tuesday, with Ether surging past the $1,700 mark before settling slightly below it. The second largest crypto by market value was recently up more than 9%, while YGG and NEAR tokens each rose well over 11% over the course of the day.
Crypto-Related Stocks Soar as Digital Asset Market Index Up 10% – The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), which measures the performance of the wider digital asset market, was recently up 10%, indicating a strong overall performance.
While equity markets were less adventuresome overall, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both closing up less than a percentage point, crypto-related stocks soared. Both exchange Coinbase (COIN) and bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) increased 17% and 18%, respectively, while business software company MicroStrategy (MSTR), a major BTC holder, recently rose more than 9%.
Prosecutors Ask Judge to Ban Bankman-Fried from Internet Use
FTX Saga Continues – the news was not all positive for the crypto industry, as the saga of FTX continued. U.S. federal prosecutors asked a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to modify the terms of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s release on bond to ban him from using cellphones or the internet except under very specific conditions.
Prosecutors alleged that Bankman-Fried used a virtual private network at least twice, supposedly to watch National Football League playoff games. This is a sharp escalation of previous requests, which mainly saw prosecutors ask that Bankman-Fried only be banned from using encrypted or ephemeral messaging applications.
2023 could be a positive year for cryptocurrencies and stocks
Bitcoin (BTC) hits a 6-month high of $24,900, with a 50% rally in 7 weeks, as traditional market sentiment remains supportive. The crypto market and tech-heavy Nasdaq index on Wall Street show resilience to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) angst and the resulting uptick in Treasury yields.
The weekly chart’s commonly followed momentum indicator, the relative strength index (RSI), has shown a bullish divergence, indicating an end to the downtrend. In November 2022, there was a bullish divergence of RSI, which occurs when the indicator does not follow the new low on price. This is a sign that bears are losing power and bulls are gaining strength.
Nasdaq Breaks Out of Bull Flag
Further Boosting Crypto Bulls – Crypto bulls received more good news as the Nasdaq broke out of a bullish flag, a technical pattern that can accelerate an uptrend. The 90-day correlation coefficient between Bitcoin and Nasdaq has also increased to 0.75, suggesting that the two assets are moving together.