Bitcoin up 50% from bear market low outperforming SPY, Gold

The bear market rally that perplexed much of the crypto industry continued into the weekend as Bitcoin hit $23,230 for the first time since August 2022. Bitcoin is now up 50% from its local low of $15,400.

Bitcoin has moved into a leading position among global assets outperforming major asset classes. In addition, 2023 has seen growth across multiple sectors as inflation begins to cool off. Since November lows, gold and the S&P500 are up 19% and 13%, respectively.

Over the past 24 hours, markets have witnessed over $387 million in crypto liquidations, the majority involving BTC and ETH for a total of $165 million.

Short positions throughout this bear market rally have dominated liquidations. However, that is not to say long positions have been entirely safe. As Bitcoin continues to rally, frequent retracements at key resistance levels have caught bulls off guard. For example, on Jan. 18 and Jan. 21, BTC longs were liquidated for over $30 million.

Ethereum has seen a similar performance to Bitcoin throughout 2023 as it jumped to $1,647 from a low of $1,074 in November following the FTX collapse.