Ether, Solana Hit 19-Month Highs as Bitcoin Rally Halts with Traders Fearing 'Bull Trap'

Bitcoin's (BTC) rally halted Thursday, ceding the stage to cryptocurrency majors ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) which led the crypto rally after surging to fresh 19-month high.

BTC dipped to $43,000 during the day following its breakneck climb to near $45,000 earlier this week, suggesting that traders took some profits after the largest crypto's breakout from $38,000 a week ago. Recently, bitcoin was changing hands at around $43,300, down 1.1% over the past 24 hours.

ETH, meanwhile, popped 5% over the same period and hit $2,372, its highest level since May 2022.

Its rally drove up the prices of other ETH-adjacent cryptocurrencies, making them the best performers of the day. Ether classic (ETC) appreciated 6%, while liquid staking protocol Lido's governance token (LDO) increased by over 11%.

Native tokens of Ethereum scaling networks Optimism and Arbitrum also gained 22% and 9%, respectively, during the day.

Solana (SOL) jumped over 8% to $69, the highest since May 2022, following a three-week cool-off since its mid-November local top. Arthur Hayes, crypto investor and BitMex exchange founder hinted at a $100 price target, speculating about a bullish weekend for altcoins in social media platform X (formerly Twitter) post on Tuesday.

The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), which tracks a market capitalization-weighted basket of almost 200 digital assets, was slightly up 0.6%.

Crypto analytics firm Santiment noted that BTC's flattening price coincided with traders increasingly calling for a potential "bull trap," a short-lived rally that bates investors back to the market before a major downtrend.

"Traders are fearful that crypto markets may be in a bull trap at the moment," Santiment posted on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday, citing social media metrics.

The growing disbelief could actually help propel BTC further toward $50,000, Santiment said, squeezing shorts who are betting on lower prices.

"FUD [fear, uncertainty, doubt] could propel BTC to $50K if it increases," the firm added.