Proactive Investors - Runaway UK inflation and a subsequent 50bps rate hike on Thursday may have dragged the BTC/USDT pair down a bit, but bitcoin still remains in a strong position around the US$30,000 mark as Friday trades kick into gear.
Barring a bullish surge in the coming hours, this week’s peak appears to be the US$30,800 price point achieved on Wednesday, when major new institutionally backed crypto exchange EDX opened for business.
BTC/USDT cuts back slightly from two-month highs – Source: currency.com
Bitcoin trading volumes have enjoyed a surge, hitting a three-month high in the middle of the week.
On that note, if EDX proves to be a success, it could potentially bring swathes of fresh liquidity to the market, at a time when crypto trading volumes have seen a sharp downturn.
Nearly US$150mln in short-BTC positions were wiped from the market this week, more than double the volume of longs.
All in all, a bullish week for bitcoin with double-digit gains tallied up.
Ethereum (ETH) is looking strong at US$1,880, over 12% higher week on week, with short-ETH liquidations far outpacing the longs.
Does the rally have staying power? On the one hand, the extensive regulatory threats against crypto cannot be ignored, but there is genuine upside potential with major money institutions ramping up their interest in blue-chip digital assets.
Bitcoin dominance persists
How much of this upside will be filtered down to the wider altcoin space is another question.
Bitcoin dominance is one of the key metrics to keep an eye on at the moment.
At more than 51%, bitcoin’s market capitalisation against the wider cryptocurrency market remains at two-year highs.
This points to a lack of faith in the altcoin sector, despite strong recent upside moves from the likes of Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT).
Litecoin (LTC), however, may have superior staying power to many of its competitors.
The payment token is one of the few altcoins available on the new EDX exchange, giving LTC strong exposure to willing investors.
Now in its ninth straight day of green candlesticks, LTC has surged 17% in the past week alone, making it one of the top performers in the altcoin space.
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