Bitcoin Reclaims $19K, Terra’s LUNC Soars 50% (Market Watch)

After yesterday’s nosedive, bitcoin bounced off, added a few hundred dollars, and currently sits above $19,000.

Most altcoins reacted even more positively to the bloodbath, with ETH soaring past $1,600. Terra’s LUNC is among the best performers following news from KuCoin.

Bitcoin Taps $19K

It’s safe to say that the past several days didn’t go all that well for the primary cryptocurrency, especially since the asset lost the coveted $20,000 late last week.

It spent most of the weekend stuck below that level, aside from a few brief attempts to reclaim it. However, to no avail, and the last such unsuccessful example came on Tuesday when BTC pumped to $20,300.

The bears came to play immediately and stopped bitcoin in its tracks. Not only did they push it below $20,000, but they also drove it south by another $1,500.

As a result, the cryptocurrency dumped to a six-week low of $18,500. It reacted well at this point and added about $1,000 in hours but has lost a few hundred dollars since then and now sits just over $19,000.

Its market cap has regained $10 billion in a day, but its dominance over the alts has taken another hit and is down below 38%.

LUNC Steals the Show

The alternative coins suffered just as badly as BTC yesterday, but most have outperformed the leading crypto asset now.

Ethereum has been quite volatile lately, perhaps fueled by anticipation for the upcoming Merge. Upon the implementation of the Bellatrix update earlier this week, ETH soared above $1,650, and it dumped beneath $1,500 a day later. As of now, a 6% daily increase has pushed the second-largest crypto above $1,600 once more.

Binance Coin and Solana are also up by up to 6% in a day. As a result, BNB sits at $280, while SOL is at $32.

The rest of the larger-cap alts are also in the green, albeit with more modest gains. ETC, ATOM, NEAR, LINK, and EOS have gained the most from the mid-cap alts.

Terra’s rebranded LUNC token is up by 50% in a day after KuCoin announced support for its burning mechanism.

Overall, the crypto market cap has recovered $40 billion in a day, but the metric is still below the $1 trillion mark.