The tone of Bitcoin has been more positive of late, but the recovery from the February lows has been rather muted, with any attempt to return to $80,000 quickly dismissed.
US stocks, however, continued their remarkable advance in the face of the Iran war, with the Nasdaq gaining 1.6% for its 11th consecutive daily advance and closing at a new record above 24,000. The S&P 500 added 0.8% and also touched a new record above 7,000.
Bitcoin made another push to surpass $75,000 on Wednesday, but the move stalled again at a threshold that has repeatedly capped gains in recent months.
Recently trading around $75,134, bitcoin is up 1.45% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data.
Crypto-related stocks rose alongside the broader risk-off tone. Coinbase (COIN) rose 6.2%, Robinhood (HOOD) jumped more than 10%, and treasury company Bitcoin Strategy (MSTR) gained 4.4%.
While stocks have fully recovered and reached new highs, Bitcoin continues to catch up after its sharp decline in February to $60,000.
“As of yesterday, we have rejected the high end of that two-month range,” said Jasper de Maere, a trader at Wintermute. “It seems that the flow picture, which seemed encouraging yesterday, is already being called into question.”
For now, he has named $72,000 as the key level to watch. Holding above would keep the breakout narrative intact, allowing further attempts towards the higher highs of the range.
A breakout lower, however, could see bitcoin fall back into consolidation as volatility compresses, he added.
