As reported by Ethereum World News, the cryptocurrency market has been on a surprising tear over the past 24 hours, with a majority of assets posting gains of upwards of 6-7%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin stands at $6,400 after a brief step over the $6,500 line, while a majority of altcoins have seen a return of upwards of 5%. Some altcoins, like Nano, have had an astounding day, with bulls pushing the price of the cryptocurrency up by 25% or more.
Although the cryptocurrency market may have been on thin ice before this recovery, the ice isn’t so thin now, with Bitcoin establishing lines of support at higher lows.
On Wednesday, CNBC’s “Fast Money” segment covered this recovery, with Brian Kelly, CNBC’s in-house crypto analyst, doing his best to reason why the market saw such a strong rebound.
#Bitcoin bouncing back today, and @BKBrianKelly explains why you should trust this bounce. pic.twitter.com/YhMo3EoSWp
— CNBC's Fast Money (@CNBCFastMoney) August 15, 2018
Kelly opened up his section calling the market’s price action a “wild ride,” alluding the trials and tribulations the market has faced over the past few weeks. The analyst went on to draw attention to the performance of BTC before, during, and after the expiry of CBoE-based Bitcoin futures. According to statistics which CNBC has attributed to Justin Stanislaw, Bitcoin often does poorly in the days leading up to an expiry date, but sees a 10% move upwards in the week following a futures expiry.
Likening today’s expiry to a similar occurrence, Kelly noted that following the April futures expiry, Bitcoin saw a 20% gain in a mere 6 days. While not explicitly stating it, it’s clear to see that founder of the crypto-centric BKCM fund is expecting for Bitcoin to continue to experience positive bouts price action over the next few days.
To add fuel to the metaphorical bullish flame, Kelly, who has become a near-notorious permabull, added that Bitcoin may be undergoing a short squeeze, as shorts cover their losses in this potential trend reversal.
This sentiment sparked a question from another CNBC panelists, who asked if “these other cryptocurrencies” will bottom out along with Bitcoin. Kelly responded, stating:
They (altcoins) are still quite correlated (with Bitcoin). Over the last 60 days or so, Bitcoin has really been the leader — a lot of that had to do with the speculation about an ETF. But what you did see today is stuff like Ethereum almost 10% off yesterday’s lows, stuff like Stellar Lumens — still holding up quite well. So yes, if you get a 10 or 15 percent run on Bitcoin on a short squeeze, it should bring everything else back up.
So as is normally the case, it is likely that if Bitcoin runs, so will a majority of altcins, albeit with some variance in either the bullish or bearish direction.
However, some had their doubts, including CNBC trader Dan Nathan, who queried Kelly on if the capitulation phase of the market has “petered out.” Turning the question somewhat on its head, the cryptocurrency bull noted that $5,900 may prove to be a level of support if a sell-off continues. Nonetheless, it seems that with this episode of CNBC Fast Money passing by, Kelly remains as bullish as ever.
While some were quick to cast Wednesday’s bout of positive price action aside, calling it a classic bull trap, there are some optimists who are convinced that this might be the beginning of the end of the crypto bears.
