Cardano, Dogecoin Lead Price Gains Among Major Cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin Nears $38K

The latest crypto market spurt added 4.6% to overall capitalization in the past 24 hours, taking the total to $1.44 trillion, levels not seen since May 2022. Bitcoin (BTC) and several altcoins returned to the highs they tested a week ago, reversing nearly all losses from a $300 million liquidation event on Tuesday.

Cardano’s ADA and dogecoin (DOGE) led gains among the top 10 tokens by market capitalization, surging as much as 12% without any immediate catalysts. Liquidations on the futures tracking these majors were lower than usual, suggesting the price action was primarily driven by spot buying. The CoinDesk Market Index, a market capitalization-weighted measure of the digital asset market, rose 3.8%.

Solana’s SOL climbed to as high as $67, extending a week-long ascent amid a favorable view of the blockchain and waning concerns of an impending FTX sale of the token that would release more SOL into the market.

Avalanche’s AVAX jumped 24% as developer Ava Labs said it was working with banking giant JPMorgan on an upcoming portfolio management product offered in Singapore.

Some traders pointed out that gains in the market mirrored those of traditional assets such as stocks, even as recent price movements suggested early signs of decoupling.

“Once again, the dynamics of crypto and equity markets have diverged,” FxPro markets analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said in a note to CoinDesk. “However, it should be noted that this seemingly negative correlation only works in the short term, as both asset classes have been rising steadily since October.”

Kuptsikevich said that bitcoin bulls were “not giving up” as the price tested the $38,000 level again on Thursday, adding the move that likely “opened the way to $46,000.”