Bitcoin trades over $20,000 as crypto market cap regains $1 trillion

Quick Take

  • Bitcoin was trading above $20,000 on Tuesday after outperforming stocks on Monday.
  • Ether rose roughly 4% over the past 24 hours.
  • The global crypto market cap broke above $1 trillion, after slipping below the mark over a week ago. 
 

Cryptocurrencies jumped on Monday and continued to gain into Tuesday, with bitcoin rising as much as 5% and ether up more than 4%.

Bitcoin was trading up 4.4% at $20,133 over the past 24 hours, according to Coinbase data. The leading cryptocurrency by market cap had struggled to trade above $20,000 consistently over the past two weeks as macroeconomic factors put downward pressure on markets. 

Meanwhile, ether was trading at $1,376 on Tuesday — up 4.3% in the past day — according to data from Coinbase, appearing to buck a recent downward trend since The Merge.

Ether has traded down since Ethereum's move to proof of stake, which JP Morgan attributed to be a combination of "buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news" and a broader weakness in risk assets in light of more hawkish central banks. 

Crypto markets showed signs of breaking with equities on Monday as most major digital assets traded up through the end of the day, while U.S. indexes closed in the red. Bitcoin's correlation with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq is back below 0.9, per The Block's data dashboard. The global crypto market cap also regained the $1 trillion mark on Tuesday, as it continues to flip either side of this level.

RELATED INDICES

The S&P 500 closed red for the fifth consecutive day; it hasn't closed red six days in a row since 2020. Equity futures were up on Tuesday, with both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite up a little more than 1% at the time of writing. 

Macro factors that could affect this rally in prices include reports that the Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines have leaked into the Baltic sea overnight.

The two pipelines, which transport natural gas from Russia to Europe, have been a focal point of escalating tensions throughout the year and while neither were in use at the time, they still contained gas under pressure, according to reports. 

Russia cut supplies of natural gas to Europe in August in light of Western governments sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. Suspected leaks or damage to the pipelines could hinder any hope of restarting supplies and further affect the macroeconomic outlook in Europe as the countries across the continent face soaring energy prices heading into winter. 

 

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About Author

Adam Morgan is a reporter covering cryptocurrency, financial markets, and economics – anything from price movements, earnings reports, and inflation to the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decisions and everything in between. Adam is based in London.