Benzinga - by Aniket Verma, .
Leading cryptocurrencies surged late on Thursday as the latest jobless claims data fueled hopes of rate cuts among risk-on investors.
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded 8:45 p.m. EDT) |
| Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) | +2.43% | $62,817 |
| Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) | +1.39% | $3,025.76 |
| Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) | +4.60% | $0.151 |
What Happened: Bitcoin, the market bellwether, rebounded above $62,000, reversing a three-day corrective phase that had seen it dip to $60,000.
The rally sparked speculative interest in the coin, with open interest on Bitcoin's largest derivatives exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, rising by 1.83% in the last 24 hours.
However, derivatives traders opted to bet against the market, with the number of traders taking bearish short positions on the apex cryptocurrency significantly outnumbering those betting on its price increase in the last 24 hours.
The largest memecoin by market cap, Dogecoin gained 4.6% in the last 24 hours.
Top Gainers (24 Hours)
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded 8:45 p.m. EDT) |
| Akash Network (AKT) | +29.32% | $5.89 |
| The Graph (GRT) | +12.87% | $0.297 |
| THORChain (RUNE) | +10.70% | $6.33 |
The global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $2.32 trillion at the last check, rising 2% in 24 hours.
Stock markets saw an uptick during the day following higher-than-expected U.S. jobless claims data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for the seventh consecutive day, up 0.85% to close at 39,387.76 points. The S&P 500 gained 0.51% to end at 5,214.08, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.27% to finish at 16,346.26.
New data revealed initial claims for unemployment benefits at 231,000 for the week ending May 4, higher than the market's estimate and the highest since late August 2023.
See More: Best Cryptocurrency Scanners
Analyst Notes: Rekt Capital, a prominent cryptocurrency analyst and trader, described Bitcoin’s current decline as the deepest, at 23.6%, surpassing the 22.9% retrace from early 2023.
The analyst also noted that this was one of the longest pullbacks in the cycle, with the corrective phase lasting nearly 50 days.
#BTCDeepest pullback in this cycle?
This current retrace is officially the deepest (-23.6%), recently eclipsing the -22.9% retrace from early 2023
Longest pullback in this cycle?
63 days
This current pullback is -23.6% deep and almost 50 days long
Bitcoin has already… pic.twitter.com/vAz7N16ZdE
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) May 9, 2024
On-chain analytics firm Santiment observed that sentiment toward leading coins in the market was still negative.
The mood dramatically shifted since Bitcoin's latest halving, the firm added, before which an overtly "Greed" vibe dominated the market.