\n Text size<\/span> Bitcoin, the leading digital asset, was down 1% over the past 24 hours to just below $46,000. A rally more than a week ago <\/a>carried the crypto above the key $45,000 mark for the first time since January\u2014a level bitcoin has managed to defend, going up as high as $48,000 in the last week.<\/p>\n \u201cBitcoin seems like it wants to hover here, with prices likely to trade between the $44,500 and $47,000 levels,\u201d Edward Moya, an analyst from broker Oanda, said on Friday as prices held in the same range.<\/p>\n Smaller peer <\/p>\n Bitcoin and ether remain well off all-time highs of $68,990 and $4,865, respectively, reached early last November.<\/p>\n Some altcoins and \u201cmemecoins\u201d\u2014called that because they were initially intended as internet jokes rather than significant blockchain projects\u2014outperformed. <\/p>\n Major bitcoin investors increasing their holdings<\/a> was one factor catalyzing the latest rally. Terra, an ecosystem of so-called stablecoins, which have their prices pegged to underlying assets such as a national currency, plans to purchase significant amounts of bitcoin<\/a> for its reserves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Founder Do Kown recently said<\/a> that Terra would be buying up $10 billion worth of bitcoin and that more than $3 billion has already been purchased. Trends like this are supportive of prices.<\/p>\n \u201cBitcoin needs a couple more major investments in order to make a run above the $50,000 level and that might take some time given the global bond market selloff,\u201d Moya said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Other analysts have eyed data showing that significant amounts of bitcoin are being held, not just traded, as indicating that further price momentum could be building.<\/p>\n \u201cOn-chain metrics suggests long term holders dominate the market,\u201d said Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at digital asset broker <\/p>\n Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@dowjones.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A rally more than a week ago lifted Bitcoin prices above the key $45,000 level.<\/h4>\n
\n Dreamstime
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n Bitcoin<\/a><\/span>
\n prices slipped on Monday while a number of smaller cryptocurrencies, or \u201caltcoins,\u201d outperformed.<\/p>\n
\n ether<\/a><\/span>
\n exhibited similar price action. The token underpinning the Ethereum blockchain network fell slightly to just below $3,500, continuing to trade at the highest levels since early January.<\/p>\n
\n Cardano<\/a><\/span>
\n was up 3%, while <\/p>\n
\n dogecoin<\/a><\/span>
\n gained 2%. <\/p>\n
\n Solana<\/a><\/span>
\n and <\/p>\n
\n luna<\/a><\/span>
\n were down 2% to 3%, outpacing declines in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n
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\n GlobalBlock
\n <\/a><\/span>
\n (ticker: BLOK). Sotiriou pointed to data from Glassnode showing that nearly 100,000 Bitcoin flowed out from exchanges in the past 30 days. \u201cWhen this has happened in the past, it has often resulted in tremendous rallies,\u201d the analyst said.<\/p>\n