Bitcoin Ballooned Over USD 5,000, Crypto Rally Extended (UPDATED)
After the surprising rally on Tuesday morning, the crypto market extended its gains on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, pushing bitcoin above USD 5,000 for couple of hours, while other top coins also moved higher. (Updates throughout the entire text.)
In the past hour (04:40 UTC), the market corrected lower, with top 10 coins by market capitalization dropping by 2%-5%.
Bitcoin trades at USD 4.964 and is up by almost 12% in the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin price chart:
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Top 10 coins by market capitalization.
Among smaller capitalization coins, NEM and Dogecoin gained c. 29%, while Augur skyrocketed by 95%.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, a major order, worth about USD 100 million, by an anonymous buyer might be a cause that set off a frenzy of computer-driven trading yesterday.
“There has been a single order that has been algorithmically-managed across Coinbase, Kraken and Bitstamp, of around 20,000 BTC,” Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, chief executive of cryptocurrency firm BCB Group, was quoted as saying.
Marcus Swanepoel, chief executive of London-based bitcoin company Luno, also commented that "what we’ve likely seen is that one large investor, probably institutional, bought quite a lot of crypto for their portfolio,” Financial Times reported (FT).
However, Arca chief investment officer Jeff Dorman, a former trader for Lehman, Merrill and Citadel, told CNBC that even if buying by trading algorithms kicked off the euphoria, that would have reversed quickly if investors were eager to sell.
“Buyers outweighed sellers, and market makers felt the pressure so they took their markets higher, which triggered stop losses and liquidations, which added more buy pressure,” according to Dorman.
George Harrap, chief executive officer at Bitspark, told Bloomberg he's putting "most things on pause" until the market settles down. While Dave Chapman, CEO of crypto exchange ANXONE, added that "events such as today's will probably be seen negatively, or viewed as this market doesn't conform to the trading of traditional instruments."
However, Nigel Green, chief executive of consultancy deVere Group, told FT that this dramatic jump is not only likely to attract many investors who have been sitting on the sidelines, but might reignite institutional interest, also.
Meanwhile, according to Dorman, the fact that every small dip has been bought immediately in the last few weeks shows that investors are not scared of sell-offs, they are hoping for them so they can buy more.
"This certainly raises the near-term floor, but this sentiment can change on a dime too," he was quoted as saying by CNBC.
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Watch Ryan Selkis, Messari, a crypto analytics and research company, founder and chief executive officer discussing the surge in Bitcoin's value:
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Crypto Twitter:
Yes, Wall Street absolutely participated in yesterday's #Bitcoin volatility.
— Mati Greenspan (@MatiGreenspan) April 3, 2019
12,015 contracts is about $294 million in volume, which is more than 20% of the volumes traded at the top ten crypto exchanges. pic.twitter.com/ZhyNpisTVX
Bitcoin is a free-floating monetary good. Its value depends on market forces of supply and demand, which are dominated by the whims of human psychology.
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) April 3, 2019
Price movements often can't be explained by news events. The price moves when and how we decide it should move, end of story.
Hedge funds & CTAs bitcoin shorts were at a record high on the CME, right before getting run over on the break of $4200. pic.twitter.com/3dNgtrJzlE
— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) April 2, 2019
Anyone else hear #Bitcoin is dead?
— Trace Mayer (@TraceMayer) April 3, 2019
With $400m+ of short liquidiations on exchange ... curious about all the off exchange shorts like #MTGox QuadrigaCX & others which have model for naked short selling, lending or rehypothecation of $BTC. @CaitlinLong_ @TuurDemeester @maxkeiser pic.twitter.com/g9oJRPZiPJ
TBH $BTC pumping $1k in an couple hours is a lot more normal than if it had just slowly grinded up the whole way.
— The Crypto Dog📈 (@TheCryptoDog) April 3, 2019
The US dollar has fallen to 1/5000th of a Bitcoin
— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) April 3, 2019
To confirm the end of the bear market, we need to break above $6,000. Looks like there is just too much resistance so this could take some time. We could be bouncing between $3k to $5k till at least September. #bitcoin 🚀
— A v B ⚡ (@ArminVanBitcoin) April 2, 2019
Everyone loaded up at 3K when we were around there.... right?
— chilli dipper (@MoonOverlord) April 3, 2019
Right... guys...
$XRP - the manipulators have successfully defended crucial support levels. But with my $$ I would much rather own $BTC, $BCH and $XMR Though $LTC is the real winner among macro caps pic.twitter.com/SiipSqxJ39
— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) April 3, 2019
Grayscale's assets under management grew to over $1 billion today https://t.co/39KCiiGfKY
— Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) April 2, 2019
