On the evening of March 8 (Vietnam time), Bitcoin (BitfinexUSD) quickly surpassed the $70,000 mark, reaching an all-time high of $70,136, according to data from CoinDesk. Immediately after, this cryptocurrency had a strong correction.
By the afternoon of March 10, Bitcoin once again approached the $70,000 mark but failed to surpass it. At 7:05 a.m. on March 11, Bitcoin was at $68,914, up 0.63% from 24 hours ago.
Following Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) also made strong progress and surpassed the $4,000 mark. It is currently trading at $3,888, down 0.6% over the past 24 hours. Binance Coin (BNB) and Solana (SOL) also surpassed milestones such as $500 and $150 respectively over the weekend.
Bitcoin’s rally over the weekend may have been fueled by investors’ expectations that higher unemployment and revised job growth figures for December and January will pave the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, CNBC reported.
Bitcoin, however, has also had a particularly volatile week. After breaking its previous record on March 5, the coin quickly fell to 10%, dragging down related cryptocurrencies and stocks. According to data from TradingView, bitcoin’s volatility index is at its highest level in nearly a year.
“The sell-off on March 5 was healthy, necessary and a prelude to further gains. Volatility is a bull market trait and 2024 will be filled with sharp drops from 10 to 20%,” said Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Nexo.
According to Bloomberg, “As bitcoin consolidates and ETH outperforms relatively in the short term, all eyes will inevitably turn to altcoins and side stories will start to heat up,” said Chris Newhouse, DeFi (decentralized finance) analyst at Cumberland Labs.
Hashnote founder and CEO Leo Mizuhara predicted that a price of $80,000 by the end of March “is not crazy.” He said that “FOMO (fear of missing out) investors will soon appear. ETFs have opened the door for more retail investors.”
Ethereum is benefiting from expectations that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will soon approve spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on the currency. The massive demand for bitcoin following the approval of the ETFs has been a major catalyst for the currency's more than 60% rally in 2024.
Source: Investing
