Bitcoin Lingers Around $19.4K While ETH/BTC Pairing Hits Bull Mode

The bitcoin market is back to trending towards bullish territory after a flat Wednesday made it clear traders were taking a bit of a breather. The price was able to go as high as $19,607 but lost steam at $19,363, as of press time. Thursday’s even tighter range than the previous 24 hours is a symptom of lower-than-average volume. According to exchange data from the CoinDesk 20, daily volume was at $990 million as of press time, lower than Wednesday’s $1.3 billion daily volume and the past month’s $1.5 billion average.

Optimism abounds that more fundamentally positive news combined with market dynamics will lead the world’s oldest cryptocurrency higher. “I was explaining to my non-crypto colleagues today that the supply and demand imbalance is just incredible,” said Chris Thomas, head of digital assets for Swissquote Bank. “We’re seeing some institutional buyers pick up large amounts fairly frequently, so the others will also be seeing that [and asking] where are they getting the coins from?” The dry powder is out there in the form of miner wallets. Their balances have increased over the course of 2020, with Lubian.com, F2Pool, BinancePool and Poolin collectively holding over 33,000 BTC, according to data aggregator Glassnode.

“Miners need to cover their operating costs,” Thomas added. “So for me, it’s clear we’re going to continue going higher in a fairly convincing way for quite some time yet.” “I am totally convinced we are a couple of weeks into a bull market surge of as big proportions as the last one,” said Henrik Kugelberg, a crypto over-the-counter trader. “Bitcoin will fly past the all-time high very soon and I would be surprised if we don’t see a $30,000 bitcoin before summer.”

That’s a hyperbullish statement from a hardcore bitcoiner, but Kugelberg also cautioned that wild gyrations are likely in the days ahead for the crypto market. “It will be a very bumpy ride with drops of 20% to 30% every now and then,” Kugelberg added. “It’s bitcoin and the [amplifier volume] knob goes to 11. If I had time I’d try to surf the waves as a day trader, but I leave that to others.”

Bitcoin’s overall volatility has been creeping upward since October and traders will continue to keep an eye on that metric in this overall bull market. While attention seems to be on bitcoin in this market atmosphere, it’s not the only story in the crypto markets, noted Denis Vinokourov, head of research at crypto brokerage BeQuant.

ETH/BTC goes bullish
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Wednesday, trading around $611 and climbing 2.3% in 24 hours as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). The ETH/BTC pair, which is offered on most major cryptocurrency exchanges, has been trending bullish on the daily charts by technical analysis standards. Since late November its price has been above major moving averages. This suggests investors are willing to spend some bitcoin to scoop up ether.

Market Wrap: Bitcoin Lingers Around $19.4K While ETH/BTC Pairing Hits Bull Mode, CoinDesk, Dec 4