After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had instructed his cabinet to start negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible, the cryptocurrency market looked set to take a turn for the worse. This came after NBC News reported that President Trump had asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back the bombing of Lebanon, accusing him of threatening a ceasefire announced on Monday.
Bitcoin quickly rose about 3% on the news and is currently trading at $72,300, up 2% in the past 24 hours. US stocks have also reversed their small early decline, with the Nasdaq currently leading by 0.65%. WTI crude oil soared to nearly $103 per barrel earlier in the day, but quickly fell to $98.60.
Bitcoin has significantly outperformed Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), and other crypto majors. $XRP ($XRP) all increased by less than 1%.
Software stocks continue to diverge
Bitcoin and software stocks, which have been closely linked in recent months, continued to diverge on Thursday. The iShares Expanded Technology Software ETF (IGV) fell 4%, approaching a key support level near $76, a level the company has tested and rebounded from numerous times.
Over the past month, Bitcoin has risen 9%, while IGV has fallen 12%.
On a 20-day moving average basis, the correlation coefficient between Bitcoin and IGV has declined to a relatively low 0.34, reinforcing the divergence in recent price movements.
