Holiday Market Snapshot: Bitcoin Consolidates at Highs, Ethereum Leads Legacy Mainstream Coins in Surge

Coin Market Cap data shows that the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has continued to rise since entering May. Although it experienced a brief plunge due to suspected interest rate hike remarks by US Treasury Secretary Yellen, the market quickly rebounded after she clarified that she was neither predicting nor recommending rate hikes. Between May 1 and May 6, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased by 6.8%, reaching $2.37 trillion as of May 6.

On May 1 local time in the United States, the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting was held as scheduled. Buffett declined to discuss Bitcoin, while Munger直言 stated that he hates Bitcoin's success. However, unlike three years ago when Buffett's comment that "Bitcoin is rat poison squared" led to a Bitcoin decline, Buffett and Munger's current remarks about Bitcoin appear to have had no significant impact on Bitcoin prices. As of this writing, Bitcoin prices remain stable above $56,000.

Since mid-to-late April, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have shown明显 divergence in trends. Bitcoin pulled back after hitting highs and entered a consolidation phase, while altcoins, led by Ethereum, continued to refresh all-time highs. Ethereum's total market capitalization neared $400 billion, surpassing Walmart, Nvidia, Mastercard, and other renowned companies, breaking into the top 20 global assets.

During the May Day holiday, Dogecoin, ETC, Litecoin, BCH, and other legacy mainstream assets performed impressively. Under Musk's promotional effect, Dogecoin doubled within 5 days starting May 1. ETC's surge continued to dominate headlines, rising over 160% in 5 days. BCH and LTC also achieved gains of approximately 40% and 30% respectively during this period.

Market Sensitivity to Rate Hikes Increases, Bitcoin Consolidates at Highs

On May 1 local time in the United States, the much-anticipated Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting convened. Buffett acknowledged at the meeting that selling a small portion of Apple stock last year was a mistake, but he and his partner Munger have never softened their criticism of Bitcoin.

Three years ago, at the same Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, Buffett made the remark that "Bitcoin is rat poison squared." Affected by this, Bitcoin's price fell for three consecutive days, dropping from $9,800 to as low as $8,350 within six days. At that time, Bitcoin's market capitalization was $156 billion, whereas Bitcoin's total market capitalization has now reached $1,067.6 billion, nearly 6 times higher over three years.

Research firm Finbold released a report stating that Bitcoin's trading volume in April was $1.84 trillion, 7 times Apple's $249.22 billion stock trading volume. Finbold noted that cryptocurrency can now compete with traditional asset classes.

Although Buffett and Munger's bearish remarks no longer have a strong impact on Bitcoin prices, the cryptocurrency market still experienced brief severe volatility during the May Day holiday, primarily due to suspected interest rate hike remarks by US Treasury Secretary Yellen.

On Tuesday, the former Federal Reserve Chair stated that interest rates might need to be raised to prevent the economy from overheating. Affected by this, global stock markets and cryptocurrency markets declined, with Bitcoin dropping 6.58% in a single day. However, Yellen subsequently clarified that she was neither predicting nor recommending that the Federal Reserve raise interest rates due to President Biden's spending plan. This remark tempered her earlier rate hike tone, and global markets recovered. Just a week earlier, on Wednesday afternoon April 28 Eastern Time, Federal Reserve Chair Powell repeatedly emphasized at a press conference that there is no discussion of rate hikes or balance sheet reduction, and interest rates will remain at current levels until the end of 2023.

In the short term, Yellen's "rate hike tone" may have been a false alarm, but the fact that her remarks triggered a global market plunge demonstrates that market sensitivity to rate hikes is becoming increasingly strong.

Currently, Bitcoin ranks 8th among global assets, with a distance of $390 billion to surpass silver. OKX investment research analysis indicates that during the May Day holiday, Bitcoin briefly broke above the upper edge of the strong resistance zone at $58,000, but buying volume明显 diminished as it rose to near $59,000, initiating a correction in the latter half of the holiday. Affected by Yellen's rate hike remarks, Bitcoin experienced a brief plunge, finding support at the strong support level of $53,000 before rebounding. It has now returned to the lower edge of the strong resistance zone at 55,600, but from a trading volume perspective, the rebound still lacks strength. Attention should be paid to whether it can stabilize at the $55,600 level; only upon stabilization can further upside be expected.

**ETH/BTC**Continues to Rise, Ethereum Rises to 20th Among Global Assets

Throughout the May Day holiday, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased by 6.8%, reaching $2.37 trillion, but Bitcoin's market capitalization dominance has been declining, falling to 46.23%, the lowest level since July 18, 2018.

Meanwhile, Ethereum and Bitcoin trends have diverged recently. Ethereum's market capitalization dominance rose from 14.71% on May 1 to 16.9% on May 6, with total market capitalization reaching $397.7 billion, surpassing Walmart, Mastercard, Nvidia, and other renowned companies, climbing to the 20th position among global assets.

Ethereum's price against Bitcoin continues to rise. OKX market data shows that as of this writing, ETH/BTC has broken above 0.06, compared to 0.025 at the beginning of the year, meaning that investors holding the same amount of Ethereum can exchange for more Bitcoin.

Glassnode data shows that in the past week, Ethereum's net outflow from exchanges on-chain was twice that of Bitcoin. From April 26 to May 2, the net outflow of Bitcoin from exchanges on-chain was $677 million, while Ethereum's net outflow reached $1.4 billion.

Many analysts indicate that the market has realized that Ethereum's value is fundamentally undervalued. Although it has risen 856% since last October, during the previous bull market, ETH/BTC peaked above 0.12, whereas currently this figure is only 0.06. Therefore, given Ethereum's positive fundamentals, there is potential to challenge this level.

Simon Peters, market analyst at social trading platform eToro, stated that the adoption and success of DeFi platforms as well as other Ethereum-powered dApps and use cases are driving institutional investors to gain exposure to Ethereum. He noted that institutions already have some Bitcoin risk exposure and are diversifying their risk exposure, with Ethereum naturally being the next choice.

Previously, European investment bank EIB conducted a digital bond sale based on Ethereum. This use case suggests that major banks and financial institutions will use public blockchains for more traditional financial products in the future, and also indicates the general trend toward open standards by banks, enterprises, and others.

Unlike the factors driving Ethereum's price surge in the previous bull market, the primary driver of this Ethereum growth comes from more actual use cases. Recently, ConsenSys released its Q1 Ethereum on-chain report, showing that DEX trading volume increased from approximately $25 billion in December of last year to $63 billion by the end of March this year, a 1.5-fold increase.

OK Link data shows that the total supply of stablecoins on Ethereum increased from $21 billion on January 1 to $57.8 billion on May 6, nearly a 2-fold increase. Considering that stablecoins have applications in DeFi such as trading, lending, and providing liquidity, the growth in stablecoin supply also reflects the flourishing development of the DeFi ecosystem.

Entering May means moving closer to Ethereum's London hard fork in July, and the highly anticipated EIP-1559 will be implemented in this hard fork. The EIP-1559 proposal aims to change Ethereum's fee structure, replacing the current "highest price auction" fee model with a base fee + tip model. Once implemented, the base fee (Ethereum) will be burned and cannot be obtained by miners. On April 30, Ethereum developers tweeted to inform all Ethereum miners that PoW mining is conservatively estimated to end in late 2021.

Ethereum influencer and Bankless co-founder David Hoffman believes that the London hard fork, EIP-1559 implementation, and transition to Ethereum 2.0 are equivalent to three independent "Bitcoin halving" events, with effects similar to Bitcoin halving in driving Ethereum price increases.

As early as February, CME launched Ethereum futures. Related data shows that April's contract trading volume reached a record 5,500 contracts, with CME's Ethereum futures contract size being 50 ETH. Tim McCourt, CME's global head of equity index and alternative investment products, stated that currently, this contract size is appropriate, but if Ethereum continues to surge significantly, micro Ethereum futures will likely be launched. On May 3, CME launched micro Bitcoin futures MBT, with a contract size of one-tenth of a Bitcoin.

Dogecoin Doubles Within a Week, ETC, BCH, and Other Legacy Mainstream Coins Surge

Led by Ethereum, many crypto assets have diverged from Bitcoin's price trends. After April 20 DogeDay, Dogecoin fell from $0.371 to $0.235 in 4 days, plunging nearly 40%, but Dogecoin, having recovered from the "flash crash," surged again, drawing attention within the community.

From May 1 to May 5, OKX market data shows that Dogecoin's maximum gain reached 123%. Year-to-date, Dogecoin's price has cumulatively risen over 124 times. As of May 6, Dogecoin's total market capitalization was $80.3 billion, surpassing XRP to rank fourth among crypto assets. During Dogecoin's surge, one netizen recovered 180 million Dogecoin from an old computer, worth approximately $110 million.

Google Trends shows that Dogecoin discussion volume has remained unabated since surpassing Bitcoin and Ethereum in April.

This Dogecoin rise is again related to Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. On April 28, Musk again posted a Dogecoin-related tweet, mentioning that he would host SNL's Saturday Night Live program on May 8. Additionally, Mark Cuban stated that for meme coins like Dogecoin, when they gain utility and users are willing to use these tokens in actual use cases, Dogecoin can gain value and become a usable currency.

Beyond Dogecoin, legacy mainstream coins like ETC and BCH also had their moments in the spotlight. During the May Day holiday, ETC's consecutive breakthroughs frequently dominated headlines, with the price even soaring to $99.5 at one point, refreshing historical records. From May 1 to May 6, ETC's gain exceeded 160%. If the timeline is extended, ETC has risen over 15 times year-to-date. Beyond catch-up factors, many believe that expectations for Ethereum 2.0's launch may have led significant mining power to flow into ETC, thereby driving ETC's price.

OK Link data shows that in the past week, ETC's global network mining power increased by 11.17%.

BCH rose nearly 40% from May 1 to May 6, with the price breaking above $1,300 and market capitalization returning to the top ten. Coin Market Cap data shows that BCH's 49% gain in the past 7 days ranks second only to Dogecoin among gains for crypto assets in the top 15 by market capitalization. BCH's global network mining power also reached 2.89 EH/s, doubling from 1.29 EH/s at the end of March, which may be related to large funds flowing back into legacy projects. Additionally, LTC gained 32.3% in the past 7 days.

With Bitcoin consolidating at highs and Ethereum leading many crypto assets in alternative trends, and legacy mainstream coins taking turns performing, those investors who missed Bitcoin's surge may perhaps have found the second chance they've long awaited—altcoin season.

Disclaimer

This article may contain product-related content not applicable to your region. This article is intended solely to provide general information and does not take responsibility for any factual errors or omissions herein. This article represents only the author's personal views and does not represent OKX's views. This article is not intended to provide any advice, including but not limited to: (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins) involves high risk, may fluctuate significantly, and even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. For questions regarding your specific situation, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. Information appearing in this article (including market data and statistics, if any) is for general reference only. Although we have taken all reasonable precautions in preparing these data and charts, we assume no responsibility for any factual errors or omissions expressed herein. © 2025 OKX. This article may be reproduced or distributed in full, or excerpts of 100 words or less from this article may be used, provided such use is non-commercial. Any reproduction or distribution of the entire article must also prominently state: "Copyright © 2025 OKX. Used with permission." Permitted excerpts must cite the article name and include attribution, such as "Article Name, [Author Name (if applicable)], © 2025 OKX". Some content may be generated or assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Derivative works or other uses of this article are not permitted.

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