Cryptocurrencies extended their gains on Tuesday as they eased concerns about a potential oil supply shock and improved risk sentiment across global markets.
The shift in sentiment came after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said it would call an extraordinary meeting of its member countries to consider releasing emergency oil reserves.
Bitcoin climbed above $71,500 for the first time since Thursday before falling back to the current $71,300, up 3.2% over the past 24 hours. The broad market CoinDesk 20 Index rose by a similar amount, with XRP (XRP), , and Hyperliquid’s native token (HYPE) leading gains among major cryptoassets.
WTI crude extended its decline on the news, falling to $82 after rising to nearly $120 over the weekend. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were up about 0.5% by midday.
Most crypto-related stocks reflected the gains. Stablecoin issuer Circle ( CRCL ) rose another 6%, now nearly 100% higher in two weeks, while infrastructure firm BitGo ( BTGO ) rose more than 8% and blockchain firm Figure ( FIGR ) gained 12%.
Since Nigel Farage was announced as joining UK bitcoin tax firm Stack BTC (STAK) on Monday, the 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 about 3% over the past 24 hours, while IGV is down more than 2%.
However, over the past five days, IGV is up around 1.5% while IBIT is down around 2%, suggesting that IBIT may still have some catching up to do if the correlation with software stocks is to re-establish itself.
A weakening of the correlation could also be noteworthy as it could signal that bitcoin is starting to trade more independently of software and technology stocks, potentially becoming a more uncorrelated asset during periods of macro uncertainty. While it has still outperformed gold and US stocks 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 as broader risk markets struggled with geopolitical uncertainty, he said. Meanwhile, ETF inflows have been broadly supportive, while heavy deleveraging earlier this month helped clean up excessive positioning in derivatives markets.
The mix of washed-out sentiment, depleted leverage and support around the $66,000 zone suggests bitcoin may be entering a bottoming process, Harris said. However, the risk remains on the downside as the crypto market remains fragile.
“If support in the mid-$60,000 area fails, we could easily see another test lower, but for now we remain cautiously bullish on BTC,” he said.
