Bitcoin prices are holding above $4,000 for the third day running, giving hope to digital asset owners that a bottom may be in.
On Wednesday, a single bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.50% was last changing hands at $4,023.79, down 0.3% since Tuesday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken crypto exchange.
While bitcoin is holding recent lows, altcoins, or coins other than bitcoin, have outperformed with many rising as much as 50% on their lows. That has dropped bitcoin’s market share to 51.4%, down from 55.1% one month ago.
What are the experts saying
Jimmy Song, programming instructor at Blockchain LLC, said despite the narrative that many have thrown in the towel, he suspects suppressed crypto prices will continue to attract new institutional money.
“We are entering a new period with bitcoin. Many of the institutional players have said they are done with this experiment (publicly), which may be the case. I think privately, some other hedge funds and other institutions will continue to invest during this lower period,” he wrote.
How are altcoins and futures doing
Altcoins are trading mostly higher on Wednesday. Ether is up 0.8% at $149.95, Litecoin LTCUSD, -1.05% was up 0.1% to $39.05, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, +1.39% was down 0.8% at $157.30 and XRP, XRPUSD, +2.54% was trading 0.8% higher at 36 cents.
Bitcoin futures are off to a mixed start Wednesday. The Cboe Global Markets February contract XBTG9, +0.13% XBTG9, +0.13% XBTG9, +0.13% was up 0.4% at $3,985, and the CME Group February contract BTCG9, +0.38% fell 0.1% to $3,970.