Major cryptocurrencies extended gains on Friday with Bitcoin maintaining ground above $19,000, and Ethereum above $1,300. The global crypto market cap stood at almost $942 billion, with a volume of $75.6 billion in the past 24 hours.

The world's largest and most popular virtual currency, Bitcoin, rose 3.1 percent to $19,315. Its market value stood at $369.8 billion. The trade volume was at $40.2 billion. The token has fallen 2.1 percent in the last seven days.

Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of Mudrex, said, "If BTC can close above $19,500 today (Friday), we might see an upward trend in the next week. But if it falls below the current level, we might see BTC going back to the $18,000 support."

The second largest virtual currency, Ethererum or Ether, climbed five percent to $1,328.4 with a market capitalisation of $162.5 billion. The trade volume of Ethereum was $18.2 billion in the last 24 hours. The token has plunged 9.2 percent in the last seven days.

On Ethereum, Patel said, "If ETH can hold above the current level, we might soon see it reaching the $1,500 level. But if ETH fails to hold today’s gains, the price may fall back to the $1,200 level."

Meme-based virtual currency Dogecoin was 4.7 percent up with a market capitalisation of almost $8 billion. Shiba Inu was trading four percent higher while Solana rose 5.5 percent to almost $32.7 billion.

The dollar index — which measures the US currency against six peers other than the rupee — retreated from a 20-year high to 110.8.

On the domestic front, Indian equity indices — BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 — are expected to make a gap-down start on Friday tracing losses across major global markets.

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First Published:Sept 23, 2022 9:35 AM IST