Altcoins Rally as Bitcoin Flounders on Christmas Eve

The cryptocurrency market staged a bounce on Tuesday, with most altcoins rallying while Bitcoin traded flat on the day.

MicroStrategy – which joined the Nasdaq 100 Index yesterday – revealed that it had acquired an additional $561 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) close to its recent peak last week.

Founder Michael Saylor shared the news on Dec. 23 in a post on X, which stated: “MicroStrategy has acquired 5,262 BTC for ~$561 million at ~$106,662 per bitcoin and has achieved BTC Yield of 47.4% QTD and 73.7% YTD.”

At the time of publishing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at approximately $95,000, up 0.2% in the past 24 hours but down 11% over the past week. Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH) climbed 4% to $3,435 in the last 24 hours, SOL surged 7% to $195, and XRP rallied 5.5% to $2.29.

The overall cryptocurrency market capitalization has decreased by 0.7% in the past day to $3.49 trillion, according to CoinGecko.

In the past 24 hours, 95,840 traders were liquidated, with total liquidations coming in at $270 million, according to CoinGlass. BTC accounted for around $12.98 million in liquidations, while ETH followed with $8.93 million. The largest single liquidation order, valued at $4.38 million in ETH-USDT-SWAP, occurred on OKX.

Continuing to Buy the Top

MicroStrategy’s decision to purchase more Bitcoin came just before the cryptocurrency slipped from its all-time high of around $108,000 last Tuesday to its current price of approximately $95,000.

MicroStrategy’s latest Bitcoin purchase marks the seventh consecutive week of acquisitions by the company. With this addition, MicroStrategy has accumulated a Bitcoin reserve totalling $44 billion.

The company has now become the fourth-largest holder of Bitcoin globally, ranking behind Satoshi Nakamoto (Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator), BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, and the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, according to Coinpedia.

"While MicroStrategy has used financial engineering to acquire significant Bitcoin treasury, a number of listed companies have started allocating some of their reserves to Bitcoin as well,” Laurent Benayoun, CEO at Acheron Trading, told The Defiant. “It seems like this is becoming a trend, and more companies of all sizes are expected to do the same over time.”

Over the weekend, Saylor shared thoughts on X about implementing a strategic Bitcoin reserve at the national level — just two weeks after President-elect Donald Trump proposed a similar idea.

“A strategic digital asset policy can strengthen the US dollar, neutralize the national debt, and position America as the global leader in the 21st-century digital economy—empowering millions of businesses, driving growth, and creating trillions in value,” Saylor’s post reads.

In addition, several U.S. states, such as Texas, Ohio and Florida, have also shown interest in building Bitcoin reserves, further fueling this trend.