Bitcoin caught up in broad risk-on session, still trading under $20K

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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-US) changed hands in the green in Monday afternoon trading, rising along with equities, as market participants opened up their risk appetite to kick off the fourth quarter.

As of shortly before 1:00 p.m. ET, bitcoin (BTC-USD) inched up 0.8% to $19.35K, and ether (ETH-USD) rose 1.6% to $1.31K. Both tokens remained well below their record highs of $68.9K and $4.64K, respectively.

The risk-on moves in crypto came after total volume of crypto brokers and decentralized exchanges increased 16% to $630B M/M in September, GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou pointed out, citing data from CryptoCompare.

“This was the first notable rise in volume since April and May of this year – could this mean smart money have been preparing for a trend reversal? The termination of Bitcoin’s current trading range, between $17,600 and $22,800, should give us the answer,” he added.

Those gains, though, have been mostly outpaced by the broader stock market, with the Dow Jones (DJI) up 2.1%, S&P 500 (SP500) +1.9% and tech-heavy Nasdaq (COMP.IND) +1.5%. The bullish price action came as Treasury yields (US10Y) (US2Y) fell as the ISM Manufacturing Index signaled easing inflationary pressures.

Crypto-related stocks, meanwhile, were mixed during Monday’s session: MicroStrategy (MSTR) +3.1%, Riot Blockchain (RIOT) -0.5%, Marathon Digital (MARA) -0.1%, Hut 8 Mining (HUT) +3.7%, Coinbase Global (COIN) -0.9% and Galaxy Digital (OTCPK:BRPHF) +7.1%.

Previously, (Sep. 30) bitcoin’s modest Q3 gain bucks stock, bond slump.