Crypto markets followed moves in bitcoin amid reports of multimillion-dollar purchases of the asset by a major blockchain entity.

Bitcoin (BTC) held over the $47,000 mark during the European hours on Monday following a surge from Sunday’s $44,700 level, leading to a broader recovery and a 5.4% addition or $100 billion to the overall capitalization of the crypto markets, in the past 24 hours.

Some funds attributed bitcoin’s surge to demand generated by Luna Foundation Guard (LFG). The LFG intends to accumulate $3 billion in bitcoin as a reserve for TerraUSD (UST), a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, and has purchased $125 million worth of the asset multiple times in the past week.

Major cryptocurrencies displayed gains after over two weeks of staying flat. Solana’s SOL jumped as much as 14%, with similar gains seen on Shiba Inu’s SHIB and Polkadot’s DOT tokens. SOL set monthly highs of $110, data show, while SHIB was in touching distance of its monthly highs of $0.00002788.

A jump in SOL prices made it costly for traders betting against higher prices of the asset. Data show nearly $30 million in liquidations occurred on SOL-tracked futures. Bitcoin futures racked up $172 million in losses, the most among all cryptocurrencies, while ether futures followed with $139 million.

The losses added to nearly $455 million in overall liquidations in the crypto market. Liquidation occurs when a trader has insufficient funds to keep a leveraged trade open.

Traders say $50,000 is the next target for bitcoin

Analysts cautioned against euphoric sentiment for bitcoin as sentiment indicators suggested a correction could be on the cards.

“The Crypto Fear and Greed index has reached 60 which is classified as Greed – the last time it reached this level Bitcoin was around $60,000,” explained Marcus Sotiriou, analyst at crypto broker GlobalBlock, in an email to CoinDesk. The fear and greed index calculates investor sentiment, with “greed” readings leading to a high probability of an imminent correction and “fear” readings preceding a period of the uptrend.

But Sotiriou expects prices to move much higher in the coming days. “Bitcoin is facing heavy resistance, but if it is able to hold above the $46,000 level (which roughly marks the yearly open) for several days, I expect a move to $52,000, which is the next key resistance,” he said in the email.

Several other analysts shared similar price targets for bitcoin.

“A sustenance of the current growth track can push the price of BTC above $50,000 before the end of the week and between the $50,000 to $55,000 range before mid-April,” said Alexander Mamasidikov, co-founder of mobile digital bank MinePlex, in a Telegram message.

Vasja Zupan, president of Matrix Exchange, seconded that sentiment. “It could be a sign that markets are beginning to recover from the initial shock of the Ukraine war,” he said in a Telegram message. “Bitcoin will disconnect from the tech stock markets and serve as a hedge in an inflationary environment as digital gold. The first goal is $50,000.”

Crypto entrepreneurs like Zupan are back to much higher estimates of bitcoin’s future prices. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit 100k before the end of the year, regardless of the geopolitical situation,” he said.

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The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has risen six consecutive days and gained over 12% since last Sunday upon a broader asset rally and Luna BTC buys.

A Bitcoin spring was in the air on Sunday.

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization shot past $46,800, rising more than 4% over a two-hour period to reach a three-month high. Bitcoin has gained over 12% since last Sunday after climbing six consecutive days, although it remains off its $47,740 starting point in 2022.

In a note published Monday morning Asia time, Singapore’s QCP capital pointed to a broader rally in global asset prices as a reason why this “bullish momentum” is likely to continue in the near term. The fund also pointed to the continued bitcoin buys from Luna as a reason for the continued momentum.

“One notable buy flow this week was the 125 million USDT purchase of BTC by Luna Foundation Guard (LFG). This purchase is part of the plan to systematically accumulate a total 3 billion USD worth of BTC as a reserve for TerraUSD (UST),” QCP wrote.

Ether and most other major cryptos were also blooming. The second largest crypto by market cap followed a similar pattern to bitcoin on Sunday and was changing hands at over $3,250, its highest level since early February. Solana, Cardano and Avalanche, among other altcoins were well into the green. Popular meme coins Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, were up about 6% and 3% respectively.

Trading was accelerating after weeks of low volumes.

“Trading volumes are up as buyers try to turn this resistance line into support and take further steps up in pricing,” Joe DiPasquale, the CEO of fund manager BitBull Capital, wrote to CoinDesk, but added: “If we don’t remain above this line, we will consolidate lower than here.”

DiPasquale said that Bitcoin had had “a strong week, especially given the quarterly options expiry” on Friday and noted that Bitcoin had “shown resilience” following the Federal Reserve’s decision last week to raise interest rates and the continued escalation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with its economic fallout.

But he was also cautious in his appraisal of the coming days. “While market participants are starting to get bullish and the fear and greed index is at neutral, BTC bulls will want to see the price consolidating above $46,000 for further continuation,” he said. “The coming week is also important as it marks the end of the quarter, and we could see increased volatility after that.”

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