<div id="1673692879.029299" class="c-virtual_list__item c-virtual_list__item--initial-activeitem" role="listitem" aria-label="mike millard. Bitcoin has been trading sharply higher over the weekend, underpinned by heightened activity in the futures market for digital currencies. The price of the largest cryptocurrency was trading up 3.29% at $20,470, as per data from The Block. Elsewhere, Solana was trading up more than 30% over the last 24-hours, while ether was trading up by 7.7%. The move upwards triggered $449 million in liquidations on January 14—the highest level in months, according to data provided by Coinglass. As noted by Crypto Quant’s Ki Young Jun, buyers entered the market early Saturday morning, purchasing ~$4 billion worth of bitcoin futures. Cryptocurrencies have been trading higher since new data released Thursday by the US Department of Labor indicated a cooldown in inflation. The much-followed consumer price index declined in December on a monthly basis by 0.1%. Young Jun said that the pullback of a wide-range of crypto market participants could be behind the extended gains. In the wake of the bankruptcies of firms such as Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research and BlockFi, crypto brokerage firms and market makers have become less active. Market making firms can help dampen volatility during wild market swings. As recently noted by The Block, such market participants have pulled back—a fact that has resulted in a liquidity gap that could leave the market open to bouts of volatility. At 10:41 AM." data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1673692879.029299"> <div class="c-message_kit__background p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false"> <div class="c-message_kit__hover" role="document" data-qa-hover="true"> <div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above"> <div class="c-message_kit__gutter"> <div class="c-message_kit__gutter__right" role="presentation" data-qa="message_content"> <div class="c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text"> <div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text" data-qa="message-text"> <div class="p-block_kit_renderer" data-qa="block-kit-renderer"> <div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first"> <div class="p-rich_text_block" dir="auto"> <div class="p-rich_text_section">Bitcoin has been trading sharply higher this weekend, underpinned by heightened activity in the futures market for digital currencies. The price of the biggest cryptocurrency was trading at $20,692 at 6:35 a.m. ET, according to data from TradingView. </div> <div> </div> <div class="p-rich_text_section">Elsewhere, Solana was trading up more than 30% over the last 24 hours, while ether was trading up 7.7%. The move upward triggered $449 million in short liquidations on Jan. 14 — the highest level in months, according to data provided by Coinglass. </div> <div> </div> <div class="p-rich_text_section">As noted by Crypto Quant’s Ki Young Jun, buyers entered the market early Saturday morning, purchasing ~$4 billion worth of bitcoin futures. Cryptocurrencies have been trading higher since new data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor indicated a cooldown in inflation.</div> </div> </div> </div> <div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above"> <div class="c-message_kit__gutter"> <div class="c-message_kit__gutter__right" role="presentation" data-qa="message_content"> <div class="c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text"> <div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text" data-qa="message-text"> <div class="p-block_kit_renderer" data-qa="block-kit-renderer"> <div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first"> <div class="p-rich_text_block" dir="auto"> <div><img class="size-full wp-image-202392 aligncenter" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/01/BTCUSD_2023-01-14_11-35-01-1.png" alt="" width="2152" height="1188" /></div> <div> </div> <div class="p-rich_text_section">The much-followed consumer price index declined in December on a monthly basis by 0.1%. Young Jun said that a pullback of a wide range of crypto market participants could be behind the extended gains. In the wake of bankruptcies including Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research and BlockFi, crypto brokerage firms and market makers have become less active.</div> <div> </div> <div class="p-rich_text_section">Market-making firms can help dampen volatility during wild market swings. As recently <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/188845/crypto-market-liquidity-dries-up-following-alameda-and-ftx-collapse">noted</a> by The Block, such market participants have pulled back — a fact that has resulted in a liquidity gap that could leave the market open to bouts of volatility.</div> <div> </div> <div>“This might be just an orchestrated effort to make a short squeeze when markets have thin liquidity,” Young Jun said in a message to The Block. “We’re close to the bottom for sure," he added, saying that the actual market recovery should start by at least mid-2023, in his opinion.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div><br /><span class="copyright"><p>© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.</p> </span>