Cryptocurrencies, such as Movement, Bitget Token, and Zcash, experienced significant price increases on December 25th, resembling the gifts of Santa Claus. Bitcoin (BTC) regained some ground after trading near $92,000 on December 23rd, and the gains extended to certain alternative coins (altcoins). Buoyed by various factors and catalysts, some altcoins saw their prices spike by more than 30%. Movement (MOVE), Bitget Token (BGB), and Zcash (ZEC) were among the top coins that experienced surges of over 31%, 18%, and 9% respectively.
These altcoins led the market cap of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies. Despite a 2% decrease in 24 hours, most altcoins’ gains helped the overall market cap remain above $3.5 trillion. The daily trading volume of the crypto market reached $156 billion, with BTC dominance at 54.5% and the crypto greed & fear index at 62. This latter metric indicates that overall sentiment remains positive, suggesting a potential return to greater risk appetite.
Michael Saylor, a Bitcoin bull and the mastermind behind the MicroStrategy plan, shared his optimism. Additionally, analysts at QCP Capital provided an overview of the market outlook, stating that altcoins could rally in the coming weeks due to capital rotation. They mentioned that BTC is currently range-bound below $100,000, and history suggests that there might be a typical quarter-end volatility selloff post-expiry. However, if BTC breaks through $100,000, volatility could remain strong, sparking fresh momentum. Meanwhile, altcoins could gain more attention. With BTC dominance at 58%, a drop below this level might confirm a rotation into altcoins, similar to what was observed last month when ETHBTC bounced off the support level of 0.032.
Other tokens that performed well on the day included Fartcoin, Solana protocol Raydium, and Virtuals Protocol. Conversely, the top losers in the past 24 hours were Hyperliquid, Stellar, and Celestia.