Crypto-currency and stock prices jump after a few days of market weakness

Crypto and stock prices climbed on Thursday, which should be a welcome development for long-suffering investors.

The leading digital currency, Bitcoin, was trading around $17K, while Ether was up 1.4% and changing hands at $1,248. Several other altcoins also traded higher yesterday, with Binance adding 1.3% and XRP gaining 1.6%. In addition, Polygon’s native token MATIC rose 1.3 percent, while Dogecoin gained 0.8 percent. However, Polkadot’s digital currency DOT was a notable exception, slipping 0.3% amid an otherwise bullish session.

The U.S. Dollar Index also fell on Thursday, sliding below 105 in trade, which is not surprising given the broader crypto trend. The trend is not surprising as BTC traditionally strengthens when the US dollar weakens.

On Thursday, stocks also looked to reverse the previous five days of declines, with the S&P 500 climbing 0.7 percent. In addition, the Nasdaq 100 also gained 0.9 percent in early afternoon trading yesterday. U.S. crypto-currency exchange Coinbase was among the stock leaders, rising more than 3% to trade above $42.64. At the time, the exchange’s stock was in danger of hitting new record lows, with its previous low of $41.23 seen on November 21.

Other notable stock gains included crypto-currency-focused platform Silvergate and MicroStrategy. Shares of Silvergate climbed 3.3 percent to $22.81 to pull away from two-year lows. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy shares rose 1.4 percent to change hands at $196.21. Multinational technology conglomerate Block also saw its shares rise 3.4 percent to $63.17.

However, not all crypto players were in the green during yesterday’s trading session. For example, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) plunged to a 47% discount to net asset value (NAV).

Recap of the recent interaction between crypto-currency and stock prices

The latest general rise in crypto and stock prices is a reversal from just 48 hours ago. On December 7, reports indicated that digital currency stocks had fallen again, though this does not signify a bearish turn on digital assets.

Meanwhile, on Dec. 6, crypto-currency prices rose while traditional markets and tech stocks suffered setbacks. At the time, bitcoin was trading at just over $17,000, while Ether reached $1,266.

Once again, the U.S. dollar index has plunged as a result of rising crypto-currency prices. The index has already erased 50% of its gains this year. Christopher Wong, a currency strategist at Singapore-based Overseas Chinese Banking Corp, offered another reason for the sharp decline in dollar gains. According to Wong, China’s easing of Covid policies is also a causal factor. As he put it:

“Anticipation of China’s reopening and the Fed’s policy calibration are key themes that should keep risk proxies such as commodity-linked currencies in place. Last Friday’s strong nonfarm payrolls report only caused the U.S. dollar to rebound.”

Yesterday, the major traditional stock indexes suffered losses as investors waited for new fiscal data to provide clues. At the time, the S&P 500 slipped 0.9% to 3,933.92, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.51% to 10,958.55. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) made a gain of 1.58 points to end the session at 33,597.92.