coindesk.com
Cryptocurrencies are extending their advances on Tuesday as easing concerns about a potential oil supply shock improved risk sentiment across global markets.
The sentiment shift came after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said it would convene an extraordinary meeting of its member countries to consider releasing emergency oil reserves.
Bitcoin $BTC$70,816.15 climbed above $71,500 for the first time since Thursday, before easing back to the current $71,300, up 3.2% over the past 24 hours. The broad market CoinDesk 20 Index was up by a similar amount, with $XRP ($XRP), DOGE$0.09453, SUI$0.9945 and Hyperliquid's native token (HYPE) leading gains among major crypto assets.
WTI crude oil extended its decline on the news, dropping to $82 after spiking to near $120 over the weekend. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were up roughly 0.5% at midday.
Most crypto-related stocks mirrored the advance. Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) was up another 6%, now nearly 100% higher in two weeks, while digital asset infrastructure firm BitGo (BTGO) climbed more than 8% and blockchain firm Figure (FIGR) rallied 12%.
Since Nigel Farage was announced as joining U.K. bitcoin treasury firm Stack $BTC (STAK) on Monday, that stock has surged more than 200%.
Bitcoin decoupling from software
Bitcoin appears to be losing its correlation with the software stock ETF (IGV), as BlackRock’s IBIT is up around 3% over the past 24 hours while IGV is down more than 2%.
However, over the past five days, IGV is up about 1.5% while IBIT is down roughly 2%, suggesting IBIT may still have some catching up to do if the correlation with software stocks is to re-establish itself.
A weakening correlation could also be notable, as it may signal bitcoin beginning to trade more independently from software and tech equities, potentially becoming a more uncorrelated asset during periods of macro uncertainty. While still outperforming gold and U.S. equities since the war began.
'Cautiously optimistic' for $BTC
Zooming out, bitcoin’s recent price action has been relatively resilient despite the ongoing macro turbulence, said James Harris, CEO of crypto yield platform Tesseract Group.
After briefly testing the low-$60,000 area, $BTC recovered even as broader risk markets struggled with geopolitical uncertainty, he said. Meanwhile, ETF inflows have remained broadly supportive, while a sharp deleveraging earlier in the month helped clean up excessive positioning in derivatives markets.
The mix of washed-out sentiment, flushed-out leverage and support around the $66,000 zone suggests bitcoin may be entering a bottoming process, Harris said. However, downside risk persists as the crypto market remains fragile.
"If support in the mid-$60k area fails, we could easily see another test lower, but for now we remain cautiously optimistic on $BTC," he said.