Bitcoin rose toward $61,000 on Thursday, albeit within a choppy trading range.
On Wednesday, El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele tweeted that his government had “bought the dip,” adding an additional 420 BTC to the treasury, the equivalent of around $25 million.
“Some believe what is happening is a quick balancing process and preparation before the push for new highs, while others think it’s the beginning of a broader correction that will take BTC to $45K-$50K,” FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.
Other analysts are cautiously optimistic and expect the current pullback to attract greater buying interest for the remainder of the year.
A full $3.1 billion of BTC options are set to mature on Friday, which could be a source of volatility.
Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, returned above $4,000 on Thursday.
The chart below shows the ETH/BTC ratio, which is currently testing 0.069 resistance – a level where ether previously lagged bitcoin.
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