<br><div itemprop="articleBody"> <p>Bitcoin (BTC) hit contemporary five-month highs on Sunday following a robust rally that noticed the benchmark cryptocurrency flirt with US$24,000 for the primary time since August 2022.</p>
<p>BTC/USDT hit a resistance wall although, and has since scaled again to US$23,500, nonetheless an unexpectedly robust place in any regard. The query is, can bitcoin assert itself and keep this worth level?</p>
<p><img alt="Bitcoin (BTC) has had one of the strongest Januaries in years – Source: currency.com" src="https://cdn.proactiveinvestors.com/CKEditor/2023/30/btc.png" style="width: 694px; height: 280px;"/><br/><span style="font-size:10px;"><strong>Bitcoin (BTC) has had one of many strongest January efficiency in years – Supply: foreign money.com</strong></span></p>
<p>Lots is driving on the Federal Reserve’s rate of interest announcement scheduled for Wednesday (and the European Central Financial institution and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/PRIVATE-UK:BOE/Bank-of-England/" rel="noopener">Bank of England</a>’s bulletins the day after, for that matter).</p>
<p>A dovish 25 foundation level (bps) US charge hike appears greater than doubtless, however traders might be eager to listen to what the committee has in retailer for the remainder of the 12 months. Any indication of an outright pause in charge rises, as was introduced in Canada final week, may see a migration of money flows into equities and different danger belongings, which bitcoin (BTC) would naturally profit from.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the <a target="_blank" href="https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index/" rel="noopener">Crypto Fear & Greed Index</a> is at its strongest place since March 2022, underscoring the surprisingly excessive market sentiment for bitcoin up to now this 12 months.</p>
<p><img alt="Latest Crypto Fear & Greed Index" src="https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index.png"/></p>
<p>Ethereum hit a excessive of US$1,660 towards the US greenback in a single day earlier than heading again beneath US$1,600.</p>
<p>Whereas the second-largest crypto has recovered strongly in 2023, it has underperformed towards bitcoin, as has nearly all of the altcoin house, barring just a few exceptions.</p>
<p>Avalanche (AVAX), regardless of having just a few bearish buying and selling periods currently, has gained over 30% on bitcoin within the 12 months to this point, whereas Polygon (MATIC) has gained a decent 5%.</p>
<p>Mina Protocol (MINA) has been a high riser this week, with the self-described “succinct blockchain” including practically 50% to its now US$700mln market capitalisation.</p>
<p>International cryptocurrency market cap presently stands at US$1.05tn, whereas whole worth locked throughout all decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols is US$48.4bn.</p> </div>