Tuesday, April 23 — crypto markets rallied today, with bitcoin (BTC) hitting its new 2019 high of over $5,500.
Most of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap are solidly in green at press time, with tezos (XTZ) having jumped more than 12% over the past 24 hours. On the other hand, binance coin (BNB) and bitcoin SV (BSV) tumbled around 2.7% and 1.2%, respectively.
Market visualization from Coin360
Bitcoin continued to gain momentum and has surged to as high as $5,590 today, according to CoinMarketCap. At press time, the biggest cryptocurrency is up 4.6% over the day to $5,572, which is a growth of 9.5% over the past 7 days.
Bitcoin’s dominance on the market has significantly risen over the past 24 hours, up from 52.5% to 53.2% at press time.
Bitcoin 24-hour price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is up 2.3% and trading at $175, up around 7.6% over the past 7 days.
Recently, Ethereum platform co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed a higher staking reward for the upcoming proof-of-stake algorithm implementation on the Ethereum blockchain.
Ether 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
XRP, the second-top altcoin, has seen low volatility today, down around 0.1% to $0.326. Over the past seven days, the coin is up 1.5%.
XRP 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
Total market capitalization hit a value of $185 billion for the first time in 2019 today. At press time, the market cap is slightly down to $184 billion, while daily trade volume surged to $50 billion.
Total market capitalization 7-day chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
Citing data from the European crypto exchange Bitstamp, Bloomberg today wrote that bitcoin has formed its first bullish golden cross since October 2015. The milestone followed a 35% price climb past $5,600, on track for its best monthly gain since the height of the crypto frenzy in December 2017, Bloomberg noted.
Bitcoin golden cross chat. Source: Bloomberg
Recently, Fundstrat Global Advisors founder Tom Lee revealed that his company’s bitcoin sentiment indicator Bitcoin Misery Index (BMI) has never been seen in a bear market. The expert noted that the BMI was over 50 throughout 2018, but recently touched a value of 89, which means that a “bull market is likely starting.”
The United States stock market has slightly changed at press time, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) down around 0.2%, while the S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (NASDAQ) Composite rose 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.
Meanwhile, oil prices jumped more than 2% in the previous session, seeing a new high this year amid increasing concern about global supplies after the United States announced a further clampdown on Iran’s oil exports, as CNBC reports. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is up 0.6% as of press time and Brent crude surged around 0.4%, while the OPEC basket is up 1% on the day.
On the other hand, gold prices have fallen to date, with spot gold dropping about 0.2% to $1,272 per ounce. U.S. gold futures are down 0.2% to $1,274 at press time.