Bitcoin Climbs 2% But Lags Market As ETH Surges 7.3%

Bitcoin (BTC) has been trading just below the $110,000 mark, showing a 2% increase in the past 24 hours. This places it 2% short of the record high it set last month. Despite this, BTC is underperforming compared to the broader market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index, which has gained 3.4%, and ether (ETH), which is more than 6% higher. The number of publicly listed companies holding bitcoin as a treasury asset has risen to 126, a growth of 22 in just 30 days. Collectively, these companies own some 819,000 BTC, up 3.25% in the same period.

Matthew Sigel, the head of digital assets research at VanEck, highlights that the combined capital-raising potential of companies such as Strategy, Cantor Equity Partners, Asset Entities, Semler Scientific, Kindly, and Trump Media & Technology Group amounts to $76 billion. This represents 56% of the assets under management (AUM) of all bitcoin ETFs and 169% of the total net inflows into these ETFs over the past 16 months. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) became the fastest fund to surpass $70 billion in AUM, achieving the milestone in just 341 days. This eclipses the record held by SPDR Gold Shares, which took 1,691 days. On Monday alone, IBIT saw $2.7 billion in trading volume, placing it sixth among all ETFs by daily volume.

A recent note from QCP Capital pointed to one-year lows in implied volatility and a pattern of subdued price action, noting that BTC had been “stuck in a tight range” as mid-year approaches. A clean break below $100,000 or above $110,000 is needed to “reawaken broader market interest.” Meanwhile, U.S. CPI, due Wednesday, and any news from the U.S.-China trade talks may help provide a stronger direction to the market.

Ether (ETH) has increased by 7.3% as daily trading volume more than doubled. A breakout for ETH above the $2,650 level of resistance would open a path towards $4,000, where it briefly traded in December before surrendering those gains in February. CoinMarketCap's altcoin season index has ticked up from 18 to 29 out of a maximum 100 since the turn of the month, suggesting that traders are focusing on the altcoin market instead of bitcoin, even though BTC was dominant throughout the recent cycle. Bitcoin has risen by 32% since March, but has been outperformed by a large portion of altcoins including HYPE, SUI and ETH, which are up between 42% and 200% respectively over the same period.