Bitcoin is now outperforming the S&P 500 for the first time since the market crash in March and the equities sell-off that started in February. In a big 24-hour move, BTC crossed $8,000 and is currently trading at $8,592, up 10.5% at time of writing. The S&P 500 is up 2.9% at 2,946.
Bitcoin has reversed its March 12th drop and is now trading above the pre-plunge level. The bullish price action suggests BTC is building momentum as the upcoming halving approaches on May 12th, which will trigger a reduced production rate of new Bitcoin.
Year-to-date, Bitcoin is up 11% compared to the S&P 500, down -23%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, down -16%.
As the crypto markets rally with all of the top 15 coins posting gains, analyst The Moon tells his 30,000 followers on Twitter that he expects Bitcoin to reach $9,000 within the next six hours. However, the overall sentiment for the market is still marked by fear, according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index by data tracker Alternative.me.
The index currently stands at 26, slightly more fearful than yesterday’s 27, but significantly more greedy than last month’s extreme fear sentiment of 14 and last week’s 20.
While traders try to gauge Bitcoin’s next move, the network continues to generate more unique wallets.
The total number of blockchain wallets has surpassed 48 million, up from 36.5 million year-over-year.
The number of blockchain wallets reached its first million in 2014. Data tracker Bloqport reports that at the current rate of new wallets there will be a total of one billion blockchain wallets by 2026.
Despite Bitcoin’s hallmark volatility, Bitcoin core contributor Danny Scott notes that the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, with a dominance of 64.3%, is consistently increasing the number of addresses that hold 0.1 BTC or more.
2010: 30k
2011: 60k
2012: 155k
2013: 220k
2014: 460k
2015: 690k
2016: 1.2 million
2017: 1.5 million
2018: 2.4 million
2019: 2.5 million
2020: 2.8 million
Now: 3.0 million