Bitcoin gains $1.5K in under an hour as BTC price erases days of downtrend

William Suberg

Bitcoin gains $1.5K in under an hour as BTC price erases days of downtrend

Bitcoin rises above $48,500 in a show of strength as over $6 billion of options expires.

17878 Total views

64 Total shares

Listen to article

0:00

Market Update

Bitcoin (BTC) put in an early end-of-year flourish on Dec. 31 as an upward boost saw BTC/USD retake $48,000.

Options expiry fades

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD abruptly gaining over $1,500 in a single hour on Friday.

A refreshing counterpoint to several days of downtrend, the move gave a taste of what could happen in a crypto market where liquidity is thinner than normal over the holiday period.

Futures + option expiry

— IamNomad (@IamNomad) December 31, 2021

Decembers Bitcoin options expiry event, worth almost $6 billion, could have provided the snap relief, traders argued, this traditionally pressuring BTC price action beforehand.

A survey by the Bitcoin Twitter account earlier in December showed that the majority of participants expected BTC/USD to be above $55,000 by the time of the expiry.

As Cointelegraph reported, expectations are mounting that a “flippening” in ownership of BTC will see institutions play a more important role overall beginning next month.

Professional trading platform Coinbase Pro saw almost 10,000 BTC leave its books 24 hours prior to the uptick.

Relief spills over to altcoins

With volatility far from absent on Bitcoin, altcoins took the opportunity to follow suit, reversing some of the weeks losses.

Related: Little forkers: BCH and BSV get crushed by

Bitcoin price

in 2021

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market capitalization, traded at around $3,800 at the time of writing, still down 7.2% over the past seven days and below the $4,000 mark.

The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap saw between 1.5% and 4% gains at the time of writing.

• #Bitcoin

• #Altcoin

• #Ethereum

• #Bitcoin Price

• #Markets

• #Bitcoin Options

• #Ether Price

Related News

• Bitcoin Price Rally by 2021 Looks Likely From Five Fundamental Factors

• Unlocking the potential for NFTs with a new hyper-gaming platform

• Kevin OLeary says his crypto holdings could reach 20% of portfolio

• The year for Bitcoin — A 2021 roundup of the flagship crypto

• Bitcoin 'Santa rally' pauses at $51.5K as funds bet on a sub-$60K BTC price for January 2022

• Price analysis 12/24: BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL, ADA, XRP, LUNA, AVAX, DOT, DOGE

Editors Choice

• Bitcoin starts 2022 at $47.2K as fresh research pins performance on China trader exodus

• DAOs are the foundation of Web3, the creator economy and the future of work

• NFTs to help brewers and farmers preserve UNESCO Belgian beer heritage

• The year for Bitcoin — A 2021 roundup of the flagship crypto

• VCs don't understand that Cardano has a community: Charles Hoskinson

Cointelegraph YouTube Subscribe

Advertise with us