XRP, SOL Lead Slight Crypto Majors' Recovery After FTX Sell-Off Fears

Bitcoin (BTC) and major tokens edged higher as traders digested concerns of a ruling in the ongoing FTX court case that temporarily led to sell-off concerns earlier this week.

BTC rose 1.5% to trade over $26,100 in European morning hours on Thursday. Ether neared $1,700 before falling to $1,650. Xrp (XRP) and solana (SOL) led gains among major crypto tokens, rising as much as 3% before retreating.

The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), a broad-based index that tracks the prices of hundreds of tokens, rose 1.67% in the past 24 hours.

Among mid-caps, THORChain’s rune (RUNE) bumped 6.8% as developers unveiled a way to allow cross-chain swaps of bitcoin via a tool built in collaboration with ShapeShift.

A jump in SOL came even as crypto exchange FTX revealed in bankruptcy court filings earlier this week that it holds $1.16 billion of SOL – approximately 16% of the token’s outstanding supply – and about $560 million in BTC. The rest of its holdings consist of lesser-known illiquid tokens.

On Wednesday, a judge in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware ruled that FTX could sell and invest its crypto holdings to pay back creditors.

SOL dropped up to 4% following the court ruling, but part of the stash is locked as venture investment and not available for sale. Aptos (APT), another token held by FTX, dropped nearly 2%.

Meanwhile, FxPro Senior Market Analyst Alex Kuptsikevich told CoinDesk in an email that, generally, bearish sentiment remained intact among professional traders.

“The question is whether the recent dip will be the starting point for the next rally. Keep an eye on the activity near the recent highs; for now, the market is not allowed to go higher,” Kuptsikevich said.

“Despite the potential for a rebound, BTCUSD remains within the bearish momentum that has been in place since July, with lower and lower highs and lows,” he added. “Ether remains in a downtrend, although its intensity is decreasing.”