Altcoins hint at ‘historic breakout’ as Bitcoin price approaches $45.5K

Bitcoin (BTC) came close to reaching $45,500 after the Wall Street open on February 8, as bullish momentum led to the highest BTC price levels in a month. Ongoing strength in BTC/USD was observed, with the pair up 2.5% on the day at the time of writing. Concerns were raised about the role of leveraged traders in driving the upside, as open interest increased by nearly $1 billion in less than 24 hours. However, the market seemed determined to recover more of the ground lost since reaching two-year highs of $49,000 on January 11. Traders expressed their optimism about further price increases, highlighting the lack of impact that sellers were having on the market. Altcoins were also performing well, with Binance’s BNB and Cardano (ADA) up around 8.5% and 10.5% respectively. Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin, traded near $2,450, representing a gain of nearly 7% in the past week. Analysts suggested that altcoins as a whole might be on the verge of a “historic breakout,” with the recent ETH breakout potentially fueling the next phase of altcoin rallies.