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(Kitco News) - The mood across the crypto ecosystem is jubilant as Bitcoin has climbed above $30,000 for the first time since last June, signaling to many that a fresh bull market may indeed have begun and it's only a matter of time before the top crypto is hitting new all-time highs.
While the crypto market was firing on all cylinders, activity for U.S. equities was mixed as investors await the latest CPI data from the Fed before committing to holding any long-term positions. At the close of markets, the S&P was unchanged on the day while the Dow gained 0.29% and the Nasdaq fell by 0.43%.
Data provided by TradingView shows that an early morning surge in Bitcoin (BTC) lifted the top crypto above $30,000, with bulls managing to push it to a daily high of $30,662 in the afternoon before the price pulled back to support near $30,200.
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
The rising price of BTC resulted in April Bitcoin futures prices hitting a contract high in early U.S. trading, according to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff.
“The market has seen a bullish upside “breakout” from the sideways trading range at higher levels, to restart a price uptrend,” Wyckoff noted. “BC bulls have the solid overall near-term technical advantage and have gained fresh power to suggest still more upside in the near term.”
Wyckoff is not alone in his view that the price uptrend has restarted. Katharine Wooler, business unit director at Coincover noted in a comment to Kitco Crypto that “BTC’s 10-month high should be a confirmation that we’re seeing a return of a crypto bull market.”
“Since the start of 2023, the crypto market has faced regular turmoil in the form of regulatory challenges and the collapse of crypto companies indicative of wider systemic problems,” Wooler said. “Yet, despite this, the market continues to perform well against all odds, with BTC up 81% and ETH up 55% respectively since the start of the year.”
Wooler pointed to the “sudden” emergence of a banking crisis over the past few weeks as a motivating event. “Investors have a renewed optimism in crypto as a worthy alternative investment to the traditional banking system,” she said.
She went on to say that a lack of regulation is now “the only barrier between digital assets and mainstream adoption,” suggesting that “Financial authorities need a fresh approach,” as it appears as though “the modus operandi is to dole out aggressive litigation as a way of testing regulation written in the 1930s, and trying to apply it to the modern phenomena which is the multi-variegated crypto industry.”
“Crypto firms are already showing their willingness to cooperate by engaging in consultations, implementing robust KYC/AML policies, and introducing transaction monitoring and other protective technology,” she said. “The ball is now firmly in the regulators’ court.”
Uptrend continues for the altcoin market
The altcoin market enjoyed another day of widespread gains, including a trio of double-digit gainers to lead the field.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
RSK Infrastructure Framework (RSK) recorded the biggest gain on the day with a 20.84% increase, followed by a 14.21% gain for Render Token (RNDR) and a 12.43% increase in the price of Solana (SOL).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.23 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 47.3%.
