Bitcoin prices moved higher midday Friday, putting a fourth consecutive winning week in sight.
In early trade on Friday, one bitcoin BTCUSD, +1.37% fetched $3,898.60, up 1.2% since Thursday’s level at 5 p.m. Eastern time on the Kraken exchange. The cryptocurrency needs to close out the week above $3,930 to book its fourth-successive winning week, which would be the first such streak in almost a year.
Read: Cboe pulls the plug on bitcoin futures trading — for now
What are analysts saying
“Bitcoin remains rather flat, still trying to break through the interim resistance at $4,000,” wrote Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro. “The crypto rally may have lost some of its momentum, as volumes across exchanges do seem to be tapering off from their recent highs but remain elevated just under $30 billion per day.”
Greenspan added, “at this point, it seems that the altseason has entered a new phase, where the super small-cap coins are the ones gaining the most interest and the more established industry incumbents are seeing only moderate advances,” noting the outperformance of smaller digital currencies, or altcoins.
Read: Tether reverses claim of 100% dollar backing, sparking criticism
Altcoins and futures
The altcoin rally has continued into Friday with major altcoins showing solid gains in early trade. Ether, ETHUSD, +3.74% added 3.1% to $135.40, Litecoin LTCUSD, +4.69% rose 4.4% to $57.89, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, +9.15% gained 7.2% to $140.60 and XRP XRPUSD, +1.12% was up 1% at 31 cents.
The market value of all cryptocurrencies hit a three-week high on Friday at $137.5 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin futures jumped out of the blocks on Friday. The Cboe Global Markets April contract XBTJ9, +1.36% rose 1.4% to $3,900, while the CME Group March contract BTCH9, +1.43% was up 1.5% at $3,905.
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