The cryptocurrency market's bull run decelerated Tuesday, while an optimistic countdown to Ethereum spot ETF and former president Donald Trump's pro-crypto moves kept investors' hopes high.

What Happened: Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, bounced above $3,800 during the day, maintaining the positive momentum spurred by spot ETF approval rumors. Bitcoin corrected on profit-taking by investors, dipping below $71,000.

Ethereum's Open Interest rose further 3.35% to break past $15 billion, a new all-time high.

Liquidations worth $171 million were witnessed in the last 24 hours, with nearly equal amounts of longs and shorts getting wiped out. Ethereum led the chart with more than $57 million in liquidations.

The deceleration impacted derivatives traders' sentiments, as positions longing Ethereum and Bitcoin dropped in comparison to shorts over the last 24 hours.

A report predicted an Ether spot ETF approval by the SEC this week, sustaining the high optimism in the market regarding the pivotal event. Alongside, Donald Trump kept his promise of accepting cryptocurrencies for his election campaign donations, becoming the first major party campaign to adopt this strategy.

Top Gainer (24 Hour)

The global cryptocurrency market cap stands at $2.6 trillion, following a 0.43% decrease in the last 24 hours.

The stock market edged higher Tuesday, with record-breaking rallies for Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite added 37.75 points, or 0.22%, to end at 16,832.62. The S&P 500 gained 0.25% during the regular session to 5,321.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.17% higher at 39,872.99.

Bullish prospects for NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) earnings report due Wednesday were catalyzing the markets, as analysts expected strong gains for the AI-based company.

See More: Best Cryptocurrency Scanners

Analyst Notes: According to on-chain analytics firm Santiment, crowd sentiment toward Ethereum was euphoric, with positive commentary on social media outweighing negative talk.

That said, despite Bitcoin's climb to $70,000, investors were bearish on the King Crypto.

#Ethereum is seeing the most #bullish crowd sentiment since September with the #SEC likely to approve the first #ETF's, and $ETH's price surge. Meanwhile, #Bitcoin & #Solana sentiment is slightly #bearish. The assets being slept on may be worth a look.  pic.twitter.com/kBZztgnTed

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) May 22, 2024

Popular cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez, however, raised the chances of a Bitcoin rebound following a buy signal on the TD Sequential indicator.  

The TD Sequential has accurately predicted #Bitcoin price action on the one-hour chart. Now, it presents a buy signal, anticipating $BTC will rebound! pic.twitter.com/6ImRkREPVW

— Ali (@ali_charts) May 21, 2024