Bitcoin price surged above $22,500, hitting its highest price in over a month

By Selena 07/19/22 10:05 AM

Bitcoin price and other major cryptocurrencies continued their late rally, soaring past $22,800 at one point, trading amid a mini-revival of investor optimism about the global economy, central bank monetary tightening, and the Ethereum Merge later this summer. At the time of writing, BTC is changing hands at $22,085.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart | Source: TradingView

Bitcoin price spikes over $22,800

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at about $22,896, up more than 9% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin is now perched above the $18,000 to $22,000 range it had held since mid-June, roughly when crypto trading platform Celsius Network announced it was halting withdrawals and Coinbase (COIN). Several digital asset companies said they were cutting jobs.

“About three hours ago, the number of Bitcoin transactions valued at over $1m spiked to its highest value in over a month. Whale moves are busy today, and spikes like this can often be a precursor to price direction shifts”, Santiment reported.

Ether, the second-largest crypto by market cap, fared even better, recently climbing more than 19% over the previous day to trade at roughly $1,600. Markets will hopefully look at the Ethereum blockchain’s Merge transition from a more energy-intensive proof-of-work to a more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake protocol. Other major altcoins assumed various shades of green, mostly on the deeper side, with ETC and SAND up over 13% and 10%, respectively, at one point. Still, market observers were wary of sounding too upbeat, given the months-long backdrop of rising inflation, central bank uncertainty, and recession looming prospect.

📊 The July price rebound has been unexpected for many traders. However, are the right patterns of assets recovering as expected? Or is this rebound just setting the table for another round of 2022 disappointment? Check out our mid-month report! https://t.co/TpPrZMuGBA pic.twitter.com/CzsmVuMvM0

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) July 19, 2022

Most major altcoins outperformed Bitcoin, with Polygon’s MATIC token leading the charts, up 18.4% over the past 24 hours. MATIC surged over 66% over seven days after Disney chose the Ethereum scaling tool as part of its 2022 Accelerator Program.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap stands at $1,020 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 41.4%.

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