• Bitcoin (BTC) price topped $66,000 amid a global IT outage
• Solana’s SOL token led the altcoin rally, hitting $170
• The crypto rally defied the past days’ correlation with the struggling U.S. equities market
On Friday, July 19th 2024, the price of bitcoin surged past $66,000 as the broader crypto market staged a strong rally. This price movement defied bitcoin’s recent correlation with U.S. equities, which continued their losing streak.
Bitcoin Price Action
The price of bitcoin jumped to as high as $66,930 during Friday trading before settling around $66,150. The leading cryptocurrency is up roughly 3% over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin’s rally comes amid a broader advance in crypto markets, with most major altcoins posting gains. The overall crypto market cap now stands above $3.2 trillion.
Driving Factors
According to market observers, there are a few factors driving bitcoin’s breakout above $66,000. First, the rally comes amid an ongoing outage at IT firm CrowdStrike, which provides cybersecurity software to a range of institutions. The outage has stoked fears of a cyberattack.
Second, bitcoin saw strong trading volumes on major spot exchanges like Coinbase. This suggests genuine interest in acquiring bitcoin at current price levels.
Finally, the rally defied bearish sentiment in traditional markets, with the S&P 500 index falling 1.1% on Friday. This could signal that bitcoin is decoupling from stocks.
Altcoin Action
Solana’s SOL token was leading altcoins higher, jumping more than 12% to over $170. SOL surpassed meme token Dogecoin to become the 7th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
The broader CoinDesk 20 index of top tokens gained 5.5%. Other major gainers included Polkadot’s DOT, up 8%, and Polygon’s MATIC, up over 6%
Conclusion
Bitcoin’s surge above $66,000 shows the cryptocurrency still commands substantial price support after correcting by more than 70% from its all-time high. The crypto rally on a day of stock market losses also underscores bitcoin’s potential as an uncorrelated asset during times of macro uncertainty. Whether the momentum can be sustained remains to be seen.
