Bitcoin has surged past $12,000 in the past several hours and it came just $200 away from marking a fresh 2020 high above $12,500. Interestingly, the alternative coins haven’t followed BTC’s move upwards, and Bitcoin has increased its dominance over the market.
The past few days have been quite bullish for the primary cryptocurrency. Ever since Bitcoin dipped to $11,200 on Friday following controversial news from OKEx, BTC has been gradually increasing in value.
The past 24 hours confirmed Bitcoin’s performance. The asset hovered around $11,700 before breaking above $12,000. BTC had little success at first as the bears quickly drove its price beneath this coveted level.
However, just a few hourly candles ago, BTC pushed harder and topped $12,300 (on Bitstamp). At the time of this writing, Bitcoin has retraced slightly but still trades above $12,150.
It’s worth noting that the current 2020 high is around $12,500. The latest price increase raised optimism among the community that Bitcoin will chart a new one soon.
The $12,500 level is actually the next resistance in BTC’s way up. In case Bitcoin overcomes it, $12,800 and $13,500 follow.
Bitcoin’s near 4% increase on a 24-hour scale is significantly more impressive than the Wall Street gains. The three most prominent US stock indexes jumped by less than 0.5% during yesterday’s trading session. As such, BTC could be displaying even more signs of decoupling.
The altcoin market hasn’t mimicked Bitcoin’s performance. Ethereum, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash are essentially positioned at the same price level as yesterday. ETH trades at $380, XRP is near $0.25, and BCH hovers around $250.
Furthermore, Binance Coin (-1%), Chainlink (-3%), Polkadot (-0.5%), and Cardano (-2%) have actually lost value in the past 24 hours.
More losses are evident from lower and mid-cap altcoins. NXM leads this adverse trend with a 12% drop. Reserve rights (-11%), Zcash (-10.5%), NEAR Protocol (-10%), and Ren (-10%) are next.
Apart from increasing its dominance over the market, Bitcoin’s impressive run up has pushed the total market cap higher as well. The cumulative market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has added $7 billion in a day to $372 billion.
