WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Cryptocurrencies rallied emphatically in the past 24 hours sending Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency above $74k. Easing fears about the Middle East war and massive inflows to U.S.-listed Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot ETF products supported sentiment. Bitcoin's surge also comes amidst whipsawing stock market prices in South Korea.
Bitcoin Spot ETF products in the U.S. witnessed net inflows increasing to $462 million on Wednesday from $225 million on Tuesday. Market leader iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) topped with inflows of $307 million. Fidelity Wise origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) followed with net inflows of $48 million.
Ethereum Spot ETF products in the U.S. witnessed net inflows of $169 million on Wednesday versus net outflows of $11 million on Tuesday. Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE) topped with inflows of $60 million followed by iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) that witnessed inflows of $39 million. Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) also recorded inflows of $30 million.
The sentiment boost provided by the heavy ETF flows triggered short covering in the market, pushing prices higher. Data from Coinglass shows short positions surpassing long positions in the 24-hour liquidation statistics, implying a short squeeze. Crypto liquidations - forced closure of a trader's leveraged position by an exchange or lending protocol for insufficient funds (margin or collateral) to cover potential losses - in the past 24 hours stood at $467 million comprising long positions of $119 million and short positions of $348 million.
Reflecting the rebound, the CMC Fear and Greed Index, a proprietary tool developed by CoinMarketCap to measure the prevailing sentiment in the cryptocurrency market has jumped to 29 ('Fear') from 19 ('Extreme Fear') a day ago and 16 ('Extreme Fear') a week earlier.
Overall crypto market capitalization increased 1.2 percent in the past 24 hours to $2.45 trillion. The 24-hour trading volume also increased almost 5 percent to $139 billion. The positive price movement in the cryptocurrency market comes amidst a hardening in bond yields, negative Wall Street futures, the dollar's strengthening, a jump in crude oil prices and muted price performance of precious metals.
Market capitalization of the cryptocurrencies identified for U.S. Strategic Crypto Reserve gained 1.6 percent overnight. Cryptocurrencies associated with AI & Big Data gained 0.61 percent. The Made in America cryptocurrencies recorded an overnight addition of 0.69 percent in market capitalization. Meme category cryptos however witnessed a reduction of 3.1 percent in market capitalization.
Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency is trading 1.4 percent higher at $72,485.22. The current price is around 43 percent below the all-time high of $126,198.07 recorded on October 7, 2025. The original cryptocurrency has gained 6.8 percent in the past week helping restrict year-to-date losses to a little more than 17 percent. The 24-hour trading ranged between $74,051.81 and 71,370.54.
Bitcoin is continuing in the 13th position in the global ranking of all assets as per market capitalization published by companiesmarketcap.com.
Ethereum (ETH) has also jumped 2.5 percent overnight as it rose to $2,117.38. The leading alternate coin is trading 57 percent below the all-time-high of $4,953.73 recorded on August 25, 2025. The 24-hour trading ranged between $2,198.66 and $2,063.50.
Meanwhile, Ethereum has improved to the 69th rank in the global ranking of all assets as per market capitalization published by companiesmarketcap.com.
4th ranked BNB (BNB) added 0.64 percent overnight resulting in price increasing to $657.39. BNB is now trading 52 percent below the all-time high of $1,370.55 touched on October 13, 2025.
5th ranked XRP (XRP) added 1.6 percent overnight to trade at $1.42, around 63 percent below the all-time high of $3.84 touched on January 4, 2018.
The price of 7th ranked Solana (SOL) rallied 1 percent overnight to $90.02. SOL's current price is around 69 percent below its all-time-high of $294.33 recorded on January 19, 2025.
Solana Spot ETF products in the U.S. witnessed net inflows of $19 million on Wednesday as compared with inflows of less than $1 million on Tuesday. The inflows are attributed entirely to Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL).
TRON (TRX) ranked 8th overall slipped 0.32 percent overnight and is currently changing hands at $0.2834. The trading price is 36 percent below the cryptocurrency's all-time high of $0.4407 recorded on December 4, 2024.
9th ranked Dogecoin (DOGE) gained 1.3 percent overnight and is currently trading at $0.0951. DOGE is trading 87 percent below the peak price of $0.7376 recorded on May 8, 2021.
10th ranked Cardano (ADA) recorded an overnight gain of 1.1 percent. ADA is currently trading at $0.2748, around 91 percent below the record high of $3.10 touched on September 2, 2021.
36th ranked OKB (OKB) tops overnight gains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a surge of close to 35 percent. 82nd ranked Kite (KITE) and 95th ranked humanity Protocol (H) followed with gains of more than 14 percent.
44th ranked NEAR Protocol (NEAR), 47th ranked Pepe (PEPE), 74th ranked Stable (STABLE), 81st ranked Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) and 13th ranked Hyperliquid (HYPE) have all declined more than 3 percent in the past 24 hours.
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