Bitcoin shoots above $72,000 as optimism grows over Middle East ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly has signaled a willingness to negotiate with Lebanon.

What to know:

• Down earlier on Thursday as oil rose alongside growing questions about the supposed ceasefire in Iran, bitcoin reversed higher after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would pursue negotiations with Lebanon over disarming Hezbollah.
• Bitcoin's gain continued a recent divergence from software stocks, with the cryptocurrency up about 9% over the past month while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF is down 12%.

What appeared to be a down day in crypto markets has turned positive after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he told his cabinet to start negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible. This came after NBC News reported that President Trump had requested Netanyahu scale back bombing in Lebanon as it threatened Monday's announced ceasefire.

Bitcoin quickly rose about 3% as the news hit, now trading at $72,300, up 2% over the past 24 hours. U.S. stocks also reversed modest early losses, with the Nasdaq now ahead 0.65%. Having surged to nearly $103 per barrel earlier in the day, WTI crude oil quickly pulled back to $98.60.

Bitcoin is notably outperforming other crypto majors, with ether (ETH), solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP) all higher by less than 1%.

Continued divergence with software stocks

Firmly linked at the hip in recent months, bitcoin and software stocks continued to diverge on Thursday. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) fell 4%, approaching a key support level around $76, a level it has tested and rebounded from multiple times.

Over the past month, bitcoin is up 9%, while IGV is down 12%.

On a 20-day moving average basis, the correlation coefficient between Bitcoin and IGV has dropped to a relatively low 0.34, reinforcing the recent divergence in their price movements.

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