Bitcoin Blows Past $17,000. It Could Be a Big Week for Cryptos.

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Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies were rising Monday. Crypto traders continue to anticipate a significant move after a stagnant start to 2023, and this week holds catalysts that could usher in volatility.

The price of Bitcoin has jumped 2% over the past 24 hours to $17,250 with the largest digital asset surging above the $16,500 to $17,000 trading range that has dominated for much of the past month. Bitcoin was buoyed by its correlation to the stock market, after the

Dow Jones Industrial Average
and

S&P 500
 rallied on Friday following encouraging signs from the latest U.S. jobs report, with stocks on track to advance again on Monday.

Cryptos remain beaten down coming out of 2022—one of the worst years ever for digital assets, as failures like the meltdown of stablecoin ecosystem Terra and bankruptcy of exchange FTX exacerbated declines sparked by a falling stock market. With the industry still in distress, Bitcoin and its peers are likely to continue taking their cues from equities as crypto traders mull whether or not the bottom is in.

The week ahead holds multiple macro catalysts that could shift both stocks and tokens. They include a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday, U.S. consumer-price index inflation data Thursday, and a raft of earnings from big banks on Friday. The dominant narrative of how inflation will impact further interest-rate increases from central banks, and thus increase recession risks, continues to hang over the market.

Beyond Bitcoin,

Ether
—the second-largest crypto—rose 4.5% to $1,325. Smaller cryptos or altcoins were even stronger, as

Cardano
surged 16% and

Polygon
gained 7%. Memecoins also notched impressive gains, with

Dogecoin
6% in the green and

Shiba Inu
5% higher.

Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com