Ether & Solana Soar to 19-Month Highs Amidst Bitcoin Rally Fears

• Ether and Solana Ascend to New 2023 Peaks as Bitcoin Drops to $43,000
• Bitcoin Rally Pauses, Ether and Solana Take the Lead
• Solana Experiences Significant Jump
• Traders Anticipate Bitcoin 'Bull Trap'

Ether and Solana Ascend to New 2023 Peaks as Bitcoin Drops to $43,000

The cryptocurrency arena witnessed ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) reaching new highs in 2023 while bitcoin experienced a depreciation to $43,000. The fear of a bull trap among bitcoin traders has been growing, which according to Santiment, may push BTC towards the $50,000 mark.

Bitcoin Rally Pauses, Ether and Solana Take the Lead

Bitcoin$42,260 -0.64% (BTC) experienced a pause in its rally on Thursday, relinquishing the spotlight to ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) who marked a significant surge to a new 19-month high. After a fast-paced climb to roughly $45,000 earlier this week, BTC fell to $43,000, indicating that traders may have cashed out some of their profits following BTC's significant breakout from $38,000 a week prior. At the time, bitcoin was trading at about $43,300, experiencing a 1.1% decrease over the past 24 hours.

On the other hand, ether witnessed a 5% increase over the same period, reaching $2,372, the highest since May 2022. The rally in ether boosted the prices of other Ethereum$2,315 -2.42%-related cryptocurrencies, making them the top performers for the day. Ethereum classic (ETC) recorded a 6% increase, while the governance token (LDO) of the liquid staking protocol Lido rose by more than 11%. The native tokens of Ethereum scaling networks, Optimism$3.67 -1.41% and Arbitrum also saw growth of 22% and 9%, respectively, within the day.

Solana Experiences Significant Jump

Solana$104 5.03% (SOL) experienced an over 8% surge, reaching $69, the highest since May 2022, after a three-week lull since its mid-November peak. Crypto investor and BitMex exchange founder Arthur Hayes has suggested a $100 price target, sparking speculation of a bullish weekend for altcoins in a recent social media platform X (formerly Twitter) post.

The Cryptocurrency Market Index (CMI), which monitors a market capitalization-weighted basket of nearly 200 digital assets, was slightly up by 0.6%.

Traders Anticipate Bitcoin 'Bull Trap'

Crypto analytics firm Santiment has observed that the stagnating price of BTC coincides with an increasing number of traders predicting a potential bull trap - a brief rally that lures investors back into the market before a major downtrend occurs. Traders are fearful that crypto markets may be in a bull trap at the moment, Santiment reported on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, referencing social media metrics.

The growing skepticism could actually serve to push BTC closer to the $50,000 mark, Santiment speculated, putting pressure on shorts who are predicting lower prices. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt could propel BTC to $50,000 if it escalates, the firm postulated.

Edited by Jonathan Stoker