The price of %Bitcoin ($BTC) has risen 7% following a steep selloff in %Cryptocurrencies immediately after Russia began attacks on Ukraine.
It’s been a wild ride for cryptocurrencies over the past 48 hours. Bitcoin was trading about 7% higher at around $38,500.00 U.S. in early morning trading Friday (February 25), according to %Coindesk data.
Over 24 hours, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has traded as low as $34,300.00 U.S. and as high as $39,000.00 U.S.
A day earlier, as much as $150 billion U.S. in market value was wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market as Russia launched attacks on Ukraine.
But now, other digital coins such as %Ethereum ($ETH) and %XRP ($XRP) are also experiencing double-digit percentage gains.
Bitcoin’s price move has correlated with other risk assets such as stocks, as more institutional investors get involved and short-term investors who trade Bitcoin like equities have entered the market.
A stunning intraday reversal in U.S. stocks late yesterday (February 24) led major indices to close higher. That positive price movement has filtered through to cryptocurrencies.
However, there is speculation that the cryptocurrency rebound is being sparked by a short squeeze. When investors go short, they are essentially betting on the price of the cryptocurrency going down.
Traders can short bitcoin by buying a futures contract that bet on a lower price of the cryptocurrency than where it is trading when they purchase that contract.