Bitcoin Hits 4-Month High, Altcoins Surge Strongly

The cryptocurrency market, and Bitcoin in particular, has quickly shrugged off recent negative news to reach new highs for 2023.

Top cryptocurrency price movements at 08:50 AM on January 21, 2023. Source: Coin360

On the morning of January 21, the cryptocurrency market resumed strong growth after a brief consolidation period due to negative news involving the U.S. and the bankruptcy of lending firm Genesis.

Previously, the upward momentum for Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins was fueled by the December 2022 U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) showing a continued decrease, indicating that U.S. inflation was being kept in check. This news allowed BTC to rebound to $21,500, lifting the entire market.

However, mid-week, Bitcoin faced a scare with ambiguous news about the U.S. Department of Justice planning to release a statement regarding cryptocurrency, causing the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency to drop by over $1,000 within an hour. When it became clear that the news was minor and insignificant, the crypto market gradually recovered.

As of this morning, Bitcoin briefly reached $22,792, marking a nearly 7.5% increase within 24 hours. This is the highest price for BTC since September 13, 2022, when Bitcoin suffered a sharp drop due to CPI news.

1D Chart of BTC/USDT on Binance at 08:50 AM on January 21, 2023

The upward trend since early January 2023 has also allowed Bitcoin to "recover lost ground" from the market turmoil following the collapse of the FTX exchange in November last year.

As usual, leading altcoins are now recording recoveries of 6% to 17%, following the lead of Bitcoin.

Ethereum (ETH) has risen 6.5% to $1,676 but has yet to reach its pre-FTX crash peak of $1,680.

1D Chart of ETH/USDT on Binance at 08:50 AM on January 21, 2023

The most impressive altcoin surge currently is Aptos (APT), which has increased nearly 40% to $11.70. This is the highest price APT has reached since its token release and exchange listing in mid-October 2022.

4h Chart of APT/USDT on Binance at 08:50 AM on January 21, 2023

In the past 12 hours, the liquidation of derivative positions in the market reached $208 million, with 87% of these being short positions.

Value of cryptocurrency liquidations in the past 12 hours, data from Coinglass at 08:50 AM on January 21, 2023

Some analysts point out that the current surge in 2023 is occurring without a significant increase in public interest, as evidenced by Google search trends for crypto-related keywords and comments on cryptocurrency forums. This suggests that caution should be exercised as the market may still face potential corrections.