- Bitcoin climbed above $21,000 for the first time since November 2022.
- Cryptocurrencies added $86 billion in 24 hours to reach $992 billion in market capitalization.
- The crypto market surged in response to improved inflation figures correlating with the macro sector.
Bitcoin climbed above $21,000 in the early hours of Saturday. It did so in response to market sentiments and improved consumer price index. That was the highest it had reached since early November. A combination of investors’ expecting a bottom and signs of peaked inflation is believed to be behind the surge.
Data from Coinmarketcap shows that Bitcoin rose to $21,047 in the early hours of the day. It climbed above $20,000 for the first time since November 8, 2022. Along with Bitcoin, Ethereum surged above $1,500, dragging other altcoins like Cardano and Dogecoin with them. Both altcoins added more than 11% within 24 hours as Cardano climbed to $0.366, and Dogecoin rose to $0.089.
Today’s price surge rippled across the entire cryptocurrency market which swelled by $86 billion in market capitalization. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency market capitalization was over $992 billion. A value that it had not achieved since early November.
The consumer prices report released in the U.S. shows declining inflation from December 2022 to January 2023. According to economic analysts, the impact of this report should see the Feds slow down on interest rate spikes. That has helped to boost risk assets like cryptocurrencies. These assets were already riding the wave of improved jobs data for the past week.
Cryptocurrencies surged alongside other risk assets like the Nasdaq 100 stock index, which has registered profit for six straight days. That supports the growing belief that there is a correlation between cryptocurrencies and the macroeconomy. Unlike in the past, when crypto served as an alternative to mainstream stocks, both entities now follow each other. Perhaps, the influx of institutional investors in recent years has had a lot to do with this.
Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, explained that crypto assets performed well following the soft CPI print. In his opinion, crypto’s correlation to macro is not going away anytime soon. He expressed delight over how market price action has responded in the past week, noting that the absolute bottom might be in already for crypto prices.