Bitcoin and Ethereum shrug off SBF drama for a risk-on rally

Bitcoin (BTC) has held onto four-week highs this Wednesday morning as the world’s premier cryptocurrency enjoys renewed buying interest among US investors.

With inflation slowing at a faster pace than expected, traders are moving their positions to riskier asset classes, causing a rally on the BTC/USD pair.

But at a little over US$17,700, bitcoin faces stiff resistance at the US$18,000 barrier, where the coin hit an intraday high in yesterday’s trading session.

Bears have also mounted a strong resistance wall at US$18,300, making a recovery to pre-crash levels a potentially difficult one.

Resistance at US$18,000 will test the bitcoin bulls’ mettle – Source: currency.com

Ethereum has managed to break above the US$1,300 price barrier, having rallied 3.5% on Tuesday.

Currently changing hands at US$1,320, the ETH/USD pair is now eyeing up US$1,350 at today’s goal.

All major altcoins are in the green this Wednesday, with Polygon (MATIC), Polkadot (DOT), Solana (SOL) and Litecoin (LTC) looking particularly buoyant.

The Fantom blockchain’s FTM token is one of the strongest altcoins at the moment, having pushed its market value above US$640mln on a 10% price rally.

Further top risers this Wednesday include the Toncoin (TON) network, staking platform Lido (LDO), NEAR Protocol and Axie Infinity’s AXS token.

Total market capitalisation across the entire cryptocurrency space stands at US$871bn, having added over 3% in the past 24 hours, while total value locked in the decentralised finance (DeFi) space has remained flat at US$42bn.