First Mover: Bitcoin Rally Stalls Amid Skepticism Over Russia Pullback

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By Shaurya Malwa

Bitcoin surged past $44,000 late Tuesday in its biggest gain in more than a week but on Wednesday appeared to be losing steam.

Crypto markets cooled as major cryptocurrencies hit resistance levels. Bitcoin faced resistance at the $44,300-$45,500 price levels, and low volume indicated weak buying strength.

Algorand's ALGO token was the biggest gainer among the CoinDesk 20 digital assets, with a 6.4% rise. Filecoin's FIL token climbed 5.2%.

Investors in traditional markets grew more cautious as Western officials expressed skepticism over a quick de-escalation of the Russia-Ukraine tensions.

Outside of major cryptocurrencies, metaverse tokens continued to surge on Wednesday. In the past 24 hours, Decentraland’s MANA was up 10.5%, The Sandbox’s SAND up 6% and Axie Infinity’s AXS up 11%. The tokens are used for blockchain-based games in separate virtual worlds broadly referred to as a “metaverse."

Meanwhile, traders said the general outlook for cryptos remained bullish amid improving sentiment for asset classes globally.

"After a strong rebound following January's 7.5% CPI print, cryptocurrencies have pulled back in line with traditional markets,” said Will Hamilton, head of trading at Trovio Capital Management, in an email to CoinDesk.

Read More: Bitcoin Traders Preparing for Tumultuous March, Glassnode Says

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