Weaker dollar lifts Bitcoin to $30.7K as analysts see 60% BTC dominance

Bitcoin (BTC) hit a 48-hour high overnight to May 20 as weakness in the US dollar gave bulls some much-needed breathing space.

Dollar strength weakens after 20-year record

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView recorded a high of $30,725 for BTC/USD on Bitstamp.

The pair was still struggling to flip $30,000 to reliable support yet avoided a deeper retracement and helped allay fears that last week’s $23,800 capitulation event failed to mark the bottom.

The US Dollar Index (DXY) provided the backdrop for Bitcoin’s relatively solid performance, which came off a two-decade high and plunged 2% in a week.

This appeared to ease some of the pressure on stock markets, with the S&P 500 closing May 19 down a more modest 0.58% from earlier in the week, and the Nasdaq 100 down.

While the largest cryptocurrency was treading water more than 50% below its all-time highs, it had been punishing laggards in the market, one analyst noted.

“Today, newbies who joined last year lose -34%,” wrote Ki Young Ju, CEO of analytics platform CryptoQuant, in a series of tweets on that day.

Ki highlighted a chart of bands of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) showing the age of investments. Those that had previously only experienced a “bear cycle” are now down 39%, he concluded, while older coins are still making gains.

“So here’s hopium for bears. If $BTC crashes that much due to the macro crisis and all Bitcoiner institutions go under water, it could cost $14,000 based on historical MDD,” he added.

As Cointelegraph reported, multiple predictions of a major BTC price drop continue to circulate, with some below $14,000.

Altcoins roll over

Meanwhile, attention has focused on Bitcoin’s increasing market presence versus altcoins.

Related: Bitcoin Must Defend These Price Levels to Avoid a ‘Much Deeper’ Drop: Analysis

After the Terra LUNA debacle, sentiment outside of BTC had turned cold, and now there were signs that alts could quickly relinquish dominance.

At 44.8%, Bitcoin’s share of the total cryptocurrency market cap at the time of writing is the highest since October 2021.

“We could see the dominance recover up to 60%,” according to popular Twitter account IncomeSharks forecast.

“That’s why you need to be careful with alts and trade them with tight stops. There is a good chance money will leave alts and return to BTC.”

A 60% BTC market dominance would represent a level not seen since March of last year.

“Most of the alts I’ve observed have failed to break their H4 trends despite yesterday’s move in BTC,” according to popular analyst Pierre warned.

“Would still expect most of them to die twice as hard if BTC got stuck in that range or resolved to the downside.”

The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should do your own research when making a decision.