The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is up 4% over the past 24 hours.
One bitcoin token is currently trading for US$19,555 (AU$30,132).
While that's still below the psychologically important US$20,000 level, something rather remarkable has been happening with the world's original crypto over the past week.
Namely, the Bitcoin price appears to be breaking away from the strongly correlated moves it's had with risk assets, like tech stocks, this year.
Image source: Getty Images
Has the Bitcoin price found a floor?
Cryptos are notoriously volatile.
And Bitcoin is no exception.
So far in 2022, the token has almost always mirrored the moves on the tech-heavy NASDAQ, only amplified. When the NASDAQ has gained 5% on dovish noises from the US Federal Reserve, Bitcoin has often gained 10%, or more.
The same pattern can be observed, with significant consistency, in reverse. Meaning any 5% loss posted by the NASDAQ has tended to see the Bitcoin price fall by a good bit more this year.
But this pattern has broken over the past week, potentially signalling the token has found a supportive floor.
You see, since last Wednesday's closing bell (Thursday morning Aussie time), the NASDAQ has dropped 1.5%.
But the Bitcoin price hasn't followed suit. Instead, it's up 5%.
What are the experts saying?
Stephane Ouellette, chief executive of FRNT Financial Inc, said the Bitcoin price could be decoupling from other risk assets as speculator influence appears to be waning.
According to Ouellette (quoted by Bloomberg), "Followers of the ecosystem have been excited to see correlations with risk assets begin to break, meaning the 'fast-money' speculative crowd may be losing their influence on the space."
Billionaire Mike Novogratz, founder of Galaxy Digital Holdings, believes that fewer forced sellers in the crypto space has led to renewed resilience.
According to Novogratz:
We're in this weird equilibrium where there are a few buyers, there are a few sellers, and there's not that energy in the market like you're seeing in the equity market or the bond market where you have to sell, right?
With the Bitcoin price bucking the wider tech selling pressure over the past full week, we'll be watching to see if this 'weird equilibrium' is a flash in the pan or a new longer-term trend.
