The price of bitcoin has shot up by 6 per cent, pushing it back above $57,000 for the first time since mid April.

It appears to have had an effect on the wider crypto market, with ethereum (ether), bitcoin cash and litecoin among those that have seen similar gains over the last 24 hours.

Ethereum’s upward trajectory has pushed it once again to a new record high of $2,868, according to CoinMarketCap’s price index.

The biggest price surge, however, has come from dogecoin, which is up more than 15 per cent since this time yesterday and is now trading above $0.36 - less than 10 cents of its all-time high.

What’s going on with ethereum? Well, a lot: its growth has beaten bitcoin’s by three-to-one this year. And it’s a lot more than just that.

Explaining ethereum’s incredible price gains would take an entire article (we’re working on it), but one of the consequences is that bitcoin’s market dominance has been considerably diminished.

Curtis Ting, a managing director at the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, reveals that it is in fact the lowest it has been since 2018.

“The past month has seen a marked shift from bitcoin into ‘altcoins. Kraken Intelligence analysis shows the combined weighted average market caps for alternative crypto subsectors – DeFi, NFTs, and Layer-1 protocols like ETH – are all up by by 28 per cent, 36 per cent and 44 per cent, respectively. In contrast, bitcoin dominance – a metric for BTC’s share of the asset class’ total market cap – dropped to a near three-year low last week,” he tells The Independent.

“The data suggests market participants are moving into coins that have smaller market caps and display greater volatility in the hopes of finding further opportunities to maximise on their returns. Many may have ridden the recent bitcoin rally, and could be using some of their gains to move into alts.”

Ethereum’s latest record means it is now 14-times more valuable than it was just one year ago.

This price chart shows it has been a bumpy but ultimately profitable 12 months for cryptocurrency investors.

Ethereum’s price is showing no signs of slowing down. After a brief period of consolidation after yesterday’s record high, the cryptocurrency has just hit another all-time high.

A couple of other major cryptocurrencies - notably cardano (ADA) and Binance Coin - have seen gains in recent days, but ethereum’s run has largely gone against broader market trends.

Bitcoin remains $10,000 off its all-time high, while dogecoin is also struggling to make its way back to the heights it saw earlier this month.

Ethereum’s latest price record means it has now risen by more than 1,300 per cent in less than a year.

We’ve got the full story here:

Other market analysts and cryptocurrency experts also seem to share this view, with current trends suggesting that bitcoin is preparing for a new record-breaking run.

Bitcoin’s price has been all over the place in the last two weeks. After hitting a new record high in mid April above $64,000, it subsequently crashed to below $48,000.

It has since recovered somewhat and has been relatively stable over the last day or so, trading at around $55,000 on Thursday morning

We’ve reached out to an expert to hear his thoughts on what caused these wild fluctuations, as well as his prediction for where bitcoin might go from here.

“Bitcoin’s price has always been volatile and unpredictable, but the last few weeks have brought truly erratic behaviour,” Greg Waisman, the co-founder and COO of the global payment network Mercuryo, told The Independent.

“It started with the Turkish Central Bank’s announcement that using crypto as a means of payment will be banned starting on 30 April. This news knocked the coin down from its highest levels - $64,863 yet to $55k. After that, it dropped further due to expectations of increased capital gains tax in the US, and then even further after Tesla sold 10% of its BTC at $54,092.

“The recovery came as well after Elon Musk explained the point of the sale — to prove the liquidity of bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on the balance sheet.

“In days to come, BTC is likely to see another drop when the Turkish ban actually arrives. However, after that, the coin should be able to start recovering properly from the level of $48,000. On the other hand, the beginning of the month often leads to price surges, so it would not be surprising for BTC to make an attempt to return to its ATH in early May.”

Just to add to the cryptocurrency market excitement today, the price of ethereum has just hit a new all-time high.

The world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency hit $2,736.18, according to CoinMarketCap’s price index, and was still rising at the time of writing.

Less than one year ago, ethereum was trading at less than $200, meaning the latest price record represents an increase of more than 1,200 per cent.

Ethereum has been bucking market trends in recent weeks, having hit a series of all-time highs despite bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies crashing. We asked some analysts why this might be – here’s what Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of smart contract network Chainlink, told The Independent:

Despite dogecoin’s massive gains in recent months – boosted again by Elon Musk’s tweet today – it’s still relatively difficult to actually buy the meme-inspired cryptocurrency.

Major exchanges and trading platforms like Coinbase, Robinhood and eToro still don’t offer it to their customers, meaning millions are missing out on the opportunity to invest – no matter how risky that might be.

With hopes among some dogecoin enthusiasts that the cryptocurrency could triple in price and hit $1 this year, many are trying to figure out how they can actually buy some.

We’ve take a look at why this is, and what options are out there. You can read all about it here:

Here’s a chart that shows how Dogecoin’s price has fluctuated – alongside search interest.