On Friday (July 29), Bitcoin and Ethereum hit $24,339 and $1,747 respectively as what some call the “summer relief rally” managed to drive the crypto market higher (with the total crypto market cap now back above $1 trillion).
According to data by TradingView, on crypto exchange Bitstamp, at 6:41 a.m. UTC on July 29, the Bitcoin price hit $24,339, which is (so far) today’s intraday high and the first time that the $BTC price has been this high since June 13. Currently (as of 8:10 a.m. UTC on July 29), Bitcoin is trading around $23,831, 4.13% in the past 24-hour period.
As for Ethereum, the $ETH price hit $1,747 at 6:36 a.m. UTC on July 29. Currently (as of 8:12 a.m. UTC on July 29), Etheruem is trading around $1,699, up 5.2% in the past 24-hour period.
Amsterdam-based Crypto analyst/trader Michaël van de Poppe tweeted about the “summer relief rally” yesterday:
The crypto market’s latest rally started approximately one month ago, when Bitcoin was trading $20,093 and Ethereum was trading around $1,099:
In the past one-month period, $BTC and $ETH are up 19.11% and 56.44% vs respectively.
So, why has the crypto market been rallying during the past month?
Well, first, as you can see although Bitcoin has done very well during this period, gaining nearly 20% vs USD, Ethereum has done even better, gaining (vs USD) nearly three times as much, and that is because the crypto market has mostly been going higher due to the excitement about Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-work consensus, with The Merge expected to take place on the Ethereum mainnet around September 19:
Second, although the U.S. economy is technically in a recession (since U.S> GDP fell 0.9% in Q2 following a 1.6% decline in Q1), neither Fed chair Powell’s comments following the FOMC meeting nor this week’s earnings announcement from U.S. tech giants Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Apple shocked investors and traders, which came as a huge relief to both, thereby helingp risk-on assets such as U.S. stocks and crypto to go higher.
Image Credit
Featured Image by vjkombajn via Pixabay.com
