Bitcoin Spikes to 2-Week High Above $54K: ETH Tops $1800 (Market Watch)
Bitcoin’s market capitalization has reclaimed the coveted $1 trillion level after the asset surged by 8% to about $54,000. Most alternative coins are well in the green as well, and the entire market cap has expanded by $130 billion since yesterday’s low.
BTC Taps $54K
Following a few days of sideways trading and flirting with the $50,000 price tag, BTC has finally spiked well above that line. The bulls took charge during the latest drop to $49,000 as reported yesterday and drove the cryptocurrency north.
In the following hours, bitcoin added more than $4,000 of value and reached $54,500 (on Bitstamp). This became the asset’s highest price tag since February 22nd – just as the sharp retracement had started following the all-time high above $58,000.
Although it has retraced slightly since then, bitcoin is still up by about 8% in the past 24 hours. With its substantial increase, BTC’s market capitalization topped $1 trillion once again after a few weeks-long hiatus.
Interestingly, bitcoin’s gains came amid the turbulence on Wall Street. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed in the red on Monday, but the futures contracts painted gains in after-hours trading as Treasury yields fell from the recent highs.
A Sea of Green for the Alts
Most of the alternative coins have followed their leader in the past 24 hours with impressive gains. Ethereum leads the pack with an 8% increase. As a result, the second-largest cryptocurrency has reclaimed another milestone on its way up – $1,800.
Binance Coin and Ripple have added about 4% of value to $240 and $0.48, respectively. Cardano and Uniswap have painted minor increases, while Polkadot (5%) and Chainlink (9%) have gone above $35 and $31.
Even more impressive price increases are evident from lower- and mid-cap altcoins. Chiliz is the undisputed leader with a 100% surge since yesterday and 380% in the past seven days to $0.27.
On a 24-hour scale, Terra (27%), NEAR Protocol (25%), Quant (25%), Theta Fuel (22%), Hedera Hashgraph (20%), SwissBorg (17%), THETA (16%), Decentraland (16%), and UMA (15%) follow.
In total, the cumulative market capitalization of all cryptocurrency assets has surged from $1.540 trillion to $1.670 trillion in a day. Moreover, the market cap is up by $230 billion in the past five days.
