Proactive Investors - Bitcoin (BTC) closed 1.1% lower on Thursday, with the supercharged cryptocurrency markets experiencing a bout of profit-taking following a period of exponential growth since mid-October.
Bitcoin remained relatively stable in early-Friday trades however, the with BTC/USDT pair swapping for $43,200 at the time of writing.
Despite the more slugging performance in the latter half of the week, the world’s premier cryptocurrency is in a remarkably strong position compared to the start of the year, having rallied more than 160%.
Ongoing hype for spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds remains the primary tailwind, though evidence of peak inflation and an end to central bank rate hikes have also spurred a risk-on appetite among investors.
Bitcoin’s bumper year-to-date performance – Source: tradingview.com
While bitcoin cooled off on Thursday, the second-largest cryptocurrency on the market Ethereum (ETH) shot up more than 5% to hit a fresh yearly high of $2,392.
Since then, the ETH/USDT pair has retraced slightly, though still remains in a buoyant position, swapping for $2,358 at the time of writing.
Solana leads the altcoin pack
Layer-2 alternative Solana (SOL) has led the price rises in the altcoin space.
Chief executive Bundeep Rangar at Fineqia International Inc pointed out that “the recent altcoins index growth was largely propelled by Solana for the second month in a row”, with exchange-traded products holding SOL increasing 99% in assets under management in November.
“This follows the 172% growth recorded in October. In the last two months, (exchange-traded products) holding SOL as underlying increased by 443% representing, 77% of the altcoins index AUM growth,” stated Rangar.
Solana’s year-to-date growth is over 600%, though it remains significantly below its all-time high after collapsing more than 95% during the 2022 crypto winter.
In the wider altcoin space, Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX) have steered ahead of the market by surging more than 20% in past seven days.
Meanwhile, BNB, Ripple (XRP) and Tron (TRX) have failed to keep pace, the three altcoins adding only a few percentage points each.
Global crypto markets capitalisation headed above $1,61 trillion overnight, with bitcoin dominance falling below the 54% mark.
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