Benzinga - by Shivdeep Dhaliwal, Benzinga Editor.
Major coins were seen trading in the green on Sunday night. At the time of publishing, the global cryptocurrency market cap rose 0.9% to $1.96 trillion over the previous day.
The Cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index flashed "Greed" ahead of a fresh trading week. The measure, a reflection of investor sentiment, has remained unchanged since last week.
Bitcoin's market capitalization is now above the psychologically important $1 trillion mark as it trades over the $52,000 level. The apex cryptocurrency having gained 23% since 2024 began.
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded at 8.33 p.m. EST) |
| Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) | +0.65% | $52,072.33 |
| Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) | +2.7% | $2,867.53 |
| Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) | +2.03% | $0.085 |
Bitcoin dominance stood above 52% at the time of publishing and has remained steady over seven days. Dominance is used to measure the comparative market share of the largest cryptocurrency in the overall market.
Bitcoin Dominance since 2014, Courtesy CoinMarketCap
Top Gainer (24-Hours)
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded at 8.33 p.m. EST) |
| World Coin (WLD) | +13.9% | $6.17 |
| Ronin (RON) | +11.74% | $3.22 |
| Beam (BEAM) | +11.51% | $0.032 |
Analyst Takes
Cryptocurrency trader Michaël van de Poppe noted in a post on Sunday that Bitcoin is "consolidating" at $52,000 and the upside looks "relatively capped" for it.
"My overall thesis is a continuation to $54-58K and then consolidation & broader correction."
#Bitcoin consolidating at $52,000 with the total market capitalization at $1.9T.The upside looks relatively capped for #Bitcoin.
My overall thesis is a continuation to $54-58K and then consolidation & broader correction.
After that, rotation towards #Altcoins.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) February 18, 2024
The Amsterdam-based trader sees a "strong weekly candle" for both Bitcoin and Ethereum. He said it is "very likely" that rotation has started. He said while King Crypto was close to "peaking out", DeFi and DePin are going to "outperform significantly" and other ecosystems are "starting to do well."
Strong weekly candle on $ETH / $BTC.It seems very likely that the rotation has started.
▫️ DeFi / DePin going to outperform significantly.
▫️ #Bitcoin close to peaking out.
▫️ Other ecosystems starting to do well.
Hit like if you want a longread on top projects to watch for.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) February 18, 2024
Cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez noted that miners have "capitalized" on the surge in Bitcoin price surge by selling nearly 6,329 BTC valued at $307 million.
Over the past ten days, #Bitcoin miners have capitalized on the #BTC price surge from $45,000 to over $52,000 by selling approximately 6,329 $BTC, valued at around $307 million! pic.twitter.com/vthHHJMauZ— Ali (@ali_charts) February 18, 2024
In another post on X, formerly Twitter, Martinez said that if Bitcoin fails to quickly reclaim the $52,000 level it might "face an 8% correction" with the price dropping between $48,000 and $46,500.
If #Bitcoin fails to quickly reclaim the $52,000 level, it might face an 8% correction, potentially dropping to between $48,000 and $46,500. At this price range, over 1 million addresses hold more than 544,870 $BTC, indicating significant support. pic.twitter.com/dY7zIqLKN2— Ali (@ali_charts) February 17, 2024
Meanwhile, over the weekend, market analytics platform Santiment said that Bitcoin ETF trading volume has been "thriving" once again in mid-February. These ETFs have been averaging over $1.8 billion in volume per day through the first 15 days of the month.
"Over $1.8B of trading volume per day is occurring between the 7 most notable [ETFs] (GBTC, IBIT, FBTC, ARKB, BTCO, BITB, HODL). Particularly as $BTC crossed above $50K earlier."