Market Wrap: Bitcoin rises after going from the psychological level of $ 50,000 to $ 52,000

Bitcoin broke above $ 52,000 on Wednesday, with a market capitalization close to $ 1 trillion.

Bitcoin is in “unfamiliar territory,” said Hunain Naseer, senior editor at OKEx Insights, after its price reached a new record above $ 52,000, just a day after exceeding the psychological limit of $ 50,000.

Price volatility remains high when compared to major macro assets, including the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index for stocks, gold and bonds.

“We can expect some consolidation between $ 50,000 and $ 52,000, with a possible retest of $ 49,000 support,” added Naseer.

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A bullish signal: a large amount of stable currency reserves in cryptocurrency exchanges, according to data from South Korean data crypto company CryptoQuant. This can show traders moving stablecoins to the place, so they can buy quickly if the price is right.

“So many stablecoins on the exchanges” compared to the bitcoin held on the exchanges, Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, told CoinDesk, pointing out that the selling pressure is relatively low.

In the derivatives market, bitcoin futures at the Chicago CME posted record single-day trading volume and total interest on Tuesday, according to data from the Skew blockchain analytics website. The high activity may be an indicator of the growing demand for bitcoin from institutional investors.

The institutional interest in bitcoin is also reflected in another market indicator called the Coinbase premium, a measure of the price difference between Coinbase Pro’s BTC / USD pair and Binance’s BTC / USDT pair, said Ki of CryptoQuant. The number was positive on Wednesday.

“Coinbase [U.S. dollar] whales are like gatekeepers ”in the bull market, said Ki of investors with large estates.

Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, rose on Wednesday, trading around $ 1,828.15 and rising 4.45% in 24 hours from 21:00 UTC (4:00 pm ET).

On the technical side, ether is in a consolidation phase after losing its short-term momentum, according to Katie Stockton, technical analyst at Fairlead Strategies.

“I see consolidation as healthy within the context of its sharp upward trend,” said Stockton. “The $ 1,556 20-day moving average is an indicator of initial support.”

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Ether’s correlation with bitcoin has remained stable this month at around 0.68, after dropping to just 0.55 in January.

“As long as bitcoin stays above $ 49,000, we can expect a rise in altcoins, including ether,” said Naseer of OKEx Insights. “But that will only happen when bitcoin’s volatility drops a little.”

At the same time, institutional interest in ether futures has grown significantly, according to data provided by blockchain analyst firm Glassnode.

“A week after the CME ether futures were launched, the daily trading volume reached a total of $ 75.8 million yesterday – almost doubling Friday’s volume from $ 40 million”, Glassnode wrote in a tweet Wednesday. “Meanwhile, open interest has increased to $ 62 million.”

The launch of the new CME ether futures contract last week could be one of the reasons the ether price underperformed, said trader and analyst Alex Kruger.

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“Ether is a high beta asset for bitcoin and must move online,” said Kruger. “Sometimes, your own set of technical and / or fundamental motivators comes into play and creates price trajectories or differences in performance.”

The digital assets in CoinDesk 20 are mostly green on Wednesday. Notable winners from 21:00 UTC (16:00 ET):