Ether has fared even better. Prices stood at $4,390 at the time of writing — with gains of 10% over the past 24 hours. The ETH/BTC conversion rate has now hit its highest level since 2018.
Bitcoin proved analysts wrong by racing above $51,000 on Tuesday — defying predictions prices would remain pinned under $50,000 for a prolonged period of time.
The world's biggest cryptocurrency has rallied by 6.2% over the past 24 hours, but remains 9.5% below where it was a week ago.
Ether has fared even better. Prices stood at $4,390 at the time of writing — delivering gains of close to 10% over the past 24 hours. This means the No. 2 coin is flat over a seven-day timeframe.
And take a look at this — the ETH/BTC conversion rate has now hit its highest level since May 2018, with Ether continuing to gain dominance in the crypto markets at Bitcoin's expense. Some of this has been attributed to how ETH's supply is diminishing as a result of Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559, which makes the asset deflationary by burning a portion of transaction fees.
While the Crypto Fear and Greed Index is still flashing a score of 25 — Extreme Fear — for Bitcoin, Ether is currently in Neutral territory on 38.
Many major altcoins — including Solana, Cardano, Polkadot, Dogecoin and Polygon — have also posted double-digit gains as they continue their recovery following a gruesome weekend.
The global crypto market cap has increased by 8% over the past 24 hours, returning to $2.39 trillion as a result.
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Back in Bullish Territory?
Although BTC's bounceback is welcome news, technical analysts are striking a cautious tone — warning that we're not out of the woods yet.
Remaining above $50,000 is seen as crucial for now, and there are concerns BTC could fall to $40,000 or even $30,000 if this level fails to hold.
And before a return to all-time highs above $69,000 can even be entertained, Bitcoin needs to focus on cracking $60,000 — a psychologically important price point that proved elusive on multiple occasions as November drew to a close. Several levels of resistance also remain around $53,000 and $56,000.
It isn't just the crypto markets that are in the green — European stocks also enjoyed something of a resurgence on Tuesday, too.
The FTSE in London, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX in Frankfurt were all up in early trading, amid optimism that the Omicron coronavirus variant may not be as serious as first feared.
Researchers do believe that Omicron will become the dominant strain of COVID-19, with the U.K. among the countries confirming that this variant is now spreading in the community.
However, preliminary data from some hospitals in South Africa — where this variant was first detected — indicates that it may cause less serious illness.
Experts have cautioned that it may take some time to get a clearer picture on the threat Omicron poses, not least because hospitalizations often lag behind infections.
Market jitters were triggered by concerns that the new variant could slow down the global economy, or lead to new lockdown restrictions being imposed.
