Bitcoin reaches $70,000 before declining, while altcoins experience their most significant rebound in weeks.

Ether, Solana, and Cardano all surpassed Bitcoin on the day, indicating a shift towards higher-beta tokens as forced selling from the February downturn begins to dissipate.

What to know:

• Bitcoin briefly neared $70,000 before declining to approximately $68,300, highlighting a failed attempt to reclaim an important resistance level.
• Altcoins such as Ether, Solana, Cardano, and Dogecoin notably outperformed Bitcoin, indicating a renewed risk appetite and a shift towards higher-beta tokens.
• Despite the short-term uptick, analysts caution that unstable macroeconomic conditions, stagnant stablecoin supply, and the potential for cascading liquidations below $60,000 render Bitcoin’s medium-term outlook uncertain.

On Wednesday, Bitcoin approached $70,000 before retreating to around $68,300 during Thursday morning trading, marking a nearly 5% fluctuation from the session high to the overnight low of $67,700.

This movement represents the strongest effort to reclaim the $70,000 mark since the crash on February 5, but it fell short of a decisive breakout.

The more notable development occurred below the surface. Altcoins experienced widespread gains, with Ether rising 8.5%, Solana increasing 6.9%, Cardano soaring 10.8%, and Dogecoin climbing 8.3%. Bitcoin’s gain of 4.3% was among the smallest within the top 10.

This type of divergence generally indicates a resurgence of risk appetite at the edges of the market, where traders pursue higher-beta opportunities once they believe the worst of the sell-off has concluded.

"The wave of forced selling is beginning to clear out," stated Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack, in an email. "Altcoins are once again outperforming, with a number of them leading Bitcoin. This suggests we are witnessing a rotation."

The rebound coincided with a muted response to Nvidia’s quarterly earnings, which exceeded expectations but failed to maintain a rally. Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.3% following the report, and Nvidia shares receded most of their post-earnings gains, rising only 0.2% in after-hours trading.

The world’s most valuable company expressed concerns regarding an overheated AI economy, tempering what had been a multi-day recovery in tech stocks.

In the meantime, the macroeconomic environment remains fragile for sustained movement in cryptocurrency markets. Market maker Wintermute observed that cryptocurrencies have been losing traction alongside tech stocks as capital shifts into defensive and tangible assets.

Crypto finance platform Matrixport identified stagnation in stablecoin supply as a "significant obstacle" for Bitcoin, and on-chain data firm Glassnode anticipates a broader liquidity recovery within six months at the earliest.

The near-term risk is clear. Data from Cryptoquant indicates that selling has slowed on Binance, supporting the argument for a short-term bounce. In addition, crypto exchange Bitrue cautioned that a drop below $60,000 could lead to a move towards $50,000-$55,000 or potentially even $47,000 if cascading liquidations accelerate.

The disparity between the short-term recovery and the medium-term trend remains considerable — and Wednesday’s rejection at $70,000 did little to bridge that gap.