Bitcoin takes back to $70,000 as Ether smashes $2,000

Bitcoin bounced hard on Friday, jumping back to $70,072 after coming dangerously close to dipping under $60,000 earlier this week.

That’s an 11% intraday gain, but traders are warning this might just be a temporary spike. The Volmex Implied Volatility Index jumped from 57% to 97%, showing just how unstable things are right now.

Ether has broken clean through $2,000, after falling under $1,900 just a day earlier.

But the stress is still coming from the perpetual futures market, which hasn’t recovered since a wipeout in October triggered more than $3 billion in long Bitcoin positions getting liquidated. That constant flushing of bullish bets has made it harder for liquidity to rebuild.

According to Kaiko, market depth is still down over 35% from October levels, the last time it was this low was after FTX collapsed in 2022.

And now, Bitcoin funding rates have turned negative, dropping to levels not seen since March 2023, pointing to weak demand for long positions and growing short exposure.

Meanwhile, the stock market also came alive today. The Dow surged 918 points, up 1.9%, while the S&P 500 rose 1.4% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.5%.

Nvidia jumped 6%, and Microsoft gained 1%, recovering part of the brutal selloff they both suffered earlier this week. Amazon was the only loser in the group, tumbling 10% after reporting disappointing earnings and warning of $200 billion in capital spending this year.