Bitcoin, Ether rise; BNB leads gainers in top 10 crypto

Bitcoin recovered above US$19,000 in early Thursday morning trading in Asia, after fluctuating around that resistance level for the past week. Ether also moved higher, while BNB led the gains in the cryptocurrency top 10 by market capitalization, all of which rose.

See related article: Markets: Bitcoin price back under US$20,000, Ether little changed, XRP falls, Uniswap gains

Fast facts

Bitcoin gained 2.7% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$19,419 at 10:15 a.m. in Hong Kong, after falling below US$19,000 in a widespread market selloff on Wednesday. Ether rose 3.2% to US$1,338, according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

• BNB led the pack, rising 4.8% to change hands at US$283, while Solana was up 4.1% to US$33.54.
• XRP rose 3% to trade at US$0.44, trading up 10.8% for the past seven days amid price volatility surrounding a possible summary judgment being reached between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs Inc., the issuer of XRP.
• U.S. equities closed Wednesday higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.9%, posting gains for the first time in six days, while the Nasdaq Composite Index closed 2% higher. The S&P 500 Index also rose 2% in its first day of positive trading since the U.S. Federal Reserve announced it was raising interest rates by a further 75-basis points last week.
• The Bank of England announced it is buying unlimited long-dated bonds to help stabilize the British pound, after falling to a record low of US$1.03 on Monday. It has since recovered and is trading at US$1.08 at 10:15 a.m. in Hong Kong. The plunge follows the unveiling of the new U.K. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget on Friday, which had markets spooked over plans to slash taxes by £45 billion without including any spending cuts
• The budget also unnerved the International Monetary Fund which took the unusual step of urging the world’s fifth-largest economy to reconsider the plan amid inflation running at 9.9% in the country, a 40-year high.

See related article: Is crypto in a deep funk? Think again