Bitcoin held steady near $66,300 on Wednesday, consolidating a two-week high, as the semiconductor rally that has driven crypto all month extended into a second session and the Japanese yen fell to its weakest level in four decades.
The largest cryptocurrency was up nearly 1% on the day and 3% for the week, with about $31 billion changing hands and a 24-hour range of about $65,400 to $66,900.
Ether is trading near $1,935, up 3% for the week. XRP added 2% to $1.14 and TRON edged higher, while the day’s laggard was hyperliquid HYPE, down 4% to $60 and down 10% over seven sessions. Bitcoin’s dominance and the majors’ quiet daily moves indicate that the market is drifting higher on a macro level rather than any crypto-native catalyst.
The driving force is still the chip business. MSCI’s gauge of Asia-Pacific stocks rose 1%, extending the biggest one-day gain in a month on Tuesday, with South Korea’s Kospi jumping 5% as an unwinding of the leveraged position that had pulled the benchmark index nearly 30% from its peak appeared to be nearing completion.
Samsung and SK Hynix are leading the way, after a more than 5% rise in the U.S. semiconductor index on Tuesday moved the index out of technical bear market territory.
