The bitcoin price and the wider cryptocurrency market made a fevered leap back toward their recent highs on Friday, shaking off Thursday’s substantial sell-off while the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and other US market indices fell back into decline.
Bitcoin Price Makes another Run at $4,000
Bitcoin had been languishing near the $3,600 level for most of the day after dipping as low as $3,567 last night. However, minutes ago, the bitcoin price shot up by more than $200, taking it from 3,634 to $3,861 in a matter of seconds.
Other large-cap cryptocurrencies made similar moves, carrying the ripple price (XRP) to $0.365 and the ethereum price to $127. As of the time of writing, the aggregate crypto market cap tallied at $128.4 billion, marking an intraday increase of more than $8 billion, or 6.7 percent.
Factors behind the rally were not immediately clear, though today is a bitcoin futures expiration date on CME, and volatility often accompanies the expiration of crypto futures contracts.
Dow, S&P 500 Erase Pre-Market Gains
Notably, while the crypto market is not directly correlated to traditional equities, bitcoin’s move to the north occurred in tandem with a stock market break to the downside.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 posted notable drops in the hours following Friday’s opening bell, erasing pre-market gains that had suggested stocks would end the week on a high note. As of the time of writing, the Dow was down 85 points, or 0.37 percent, and the S&P 500 was down 0.28 percent while the Nasdaq flashed a 0.42 percent decline.
Click here for a real-time bitcoin price chart. Stay tuned for further coverage and analysis of today’s crypto market rally.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Price Charts from TradingView.
Get Exclusive Crypto Analysis by Professional Traders and Investors on Hacked.com. Sign up now and get the first month for free. Click here.
