BTC and ETH Surge To New 2023 Highs

Leading crypto markets rallied into new 2023 highs, with ETH trading above $2,250 and BTC exceeding $41,500 for the first time in 19 months.

The markets broke into new year-to-date highs on Dec. 2 before accelerating on Dec. 3. Both ETH and BTC increased more than 4% in the past 24 hours, more than 10% for the past week, and 34% and 50% respectively since the start of October.

BTC is trading at its highest level since April 2022, while ETH reclaimed price structure not seen since May 2022. An additional 63% surge would put BTC at new all-time price highs, while Ether needs to rally 115% to break its previous record high.

Meanwhile, institutional crypto products have seen 10 straight weeks of inflows - the longest streak since October 2021, according to Coinshares.

Cryptocurrencies weren’t the only assets posting impressive gains. Gold posted successive all-time highs in recent days after gaining 18.5% since the start of October, while the S&P 500 is retesting its 2023 highs after jumping 12% since the start of November, according to TradingView.

Analysts are attributing the market action to expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s wave of interest hikes is over, tipping that the central bank may soon begin reducing rates in early 2024.

Digital assets also continue to ride high following meetings between eight prospective spot Bitcoin ETF issuers and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in late November, with the agency meeting with both BlackRock and Grayscale twice last month.

James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, ETF analysts at Bloomberg, predict the SEC will approve one or more spot Bitcoin ETFs around early January.

Terra assets outperform

Terra (LUNA) and Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) rank as the top gaining digital assets ranked among the top 100 over the past 24 hours with respective gains of more than 30% and 45%, ironically coinciding with a market rally that pushed Bitcoin back to price levels last seen preceding Terra’s violent implosion that brought the broader crypto markets with it last May.

LUNC is also up more than 100% over just the past week, ranking second behind ORDI by seven-day performance.

IOTA also gained more than 100% in a week after announcing the launch of an Abu Dhabi-based foundation as part of a pivot towards bringing real-world assets on-chain in the Middle East and North Africa region.