Bitcoin Consolidates after Approaching $90,000

The cryptocurrency market consolidated on Tuesday after a string of all-time highs for Bitcoin.

Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $87,500, rising 3% over the past 24 hours, while Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) dipped 2% and 4%, respectively. The global cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $3.06 trillion.

This is the first time the crypto market has surpassed $3 trillion since November 2021, when Bitcoin reached its previous all-time high of $69,000. The rally comes as the market shows renewed strength, buoyed by institutional inflows and shifting regulatory expectations.

“Since the election, gold has declined by 5% while Bitcoin has surged by 30%, signaling a shift as Bitcoin gains traction as ‘digital gold,’” said analysts at QCP Capital, a digital asset trading firm. They noted that this structural movement could reflect a reallocation of capital from traditional safe-haven assets like gold into BTC.

Bitcoin’s market cap now stands at $1.73 trillion, surpassing silver’s $1.72 trillion.

However, it remains well below gold’s $17.5 trillion market cap. If just 1% of gold’s capitalization flows into Bitcoin, QCP analysts predict the cryptocurrency could hit $97,000.

Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin, has gained $4 billion over the past week, reaching a total market cap of $124.3 billion.

Bernstein Tells Investors to "Buy Everything"

Adding to the market's optimism, Bernstein Research issued a bullish crypto recommendation.

"Don't fight this," said analyst Gautam Chhugani in a note to clients on Monday. "Welcome to the crypto bull market — buy everything you can."

Bitcoin's sharp rise has been fueled by significant institutional interest, particularly in U.S. Bitcoin ETFs. On Nov. 11, spot BTC ETFs attracted a staggering $1.11 billion in net inflows, according to Farside Investors.

BlackRosk’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) did $4.5 billion in volume and $756 million in net inflows.

Stock markets dipped on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.7%.

Investors now await the latest U.S. economic data, including inflation metrics such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI), due later this week.