Bitcoin (BTC) Jumps 12% Hitting A 6-Month High, Is This A Dead Cat Bounce?

The world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has posed a solid 12% gain in the last few hours moving closer to $25,000 and hitting a new 6-month high. As of press time, BTC is trading 11.72% up at a price of $24,702 and a market cap of $476 billion.

The recent move has surprised traders with bearish sentiment in the market. On-chain data provider Santiment reports:

Bitcoin has launched to a 6-month high, surprising the bearish trader sentiment. With prices jumping above $24.2k for the first time since Aug. 14th, 2022, watch for whale addresses increasing as a sign of increased key stakeholder confidence.

As of press time, Bitcoin is leading all other altcoins in terms of percentage gains. Last month, we saw altcoins dominating over BTC when it came to crypto trading volumes. On-chain data provider Santiment explains that we can expect whales and trading volumes to shift from altcoins to Bitcoin.

With the latest move, the bulls seem to have the upper hand. As per the data from Coinglass, the total shorts liquidations for Bitcoin over the last 24 hours have surged to $85 million.

Furthermore, there’s growing optimism among investors in the Bitcoin derivatives market. The open interest (OI) in Bitcoin perpetual futures market shows that traders are building long positions. Also, the funding rates have been predominantly positive showing the willingness to go long.

Thus, on-chain data shows that the bulls are clearly in the driving seat and today’s price surge may not be a dead cat bounce. On the upside, BTC needs to give a daily closing above $25,000 to continue the momentum.

Altcoins Join Bitcoin to the Party

Along with Bitcoin, altcoins too have joined the party. The top ten altcoins are up anywhere between 9-12%. Ethereum (ETH) has shot up by 9.25% and is currently trading close to $1,700. Ethereum’s Layer-2 scalability platform Polygon has also shown a strong price rally recently with major whale participation.