Bitcoin Inches Closer to $100,000

BTC soared to a fresh all-time high of $99,000 on Thursday.

By: Mehab Qureshi • November 21, 2024

The crypto rally continued on Thursday, with Bitcoin edging closer to the $100,000 mark.

Bitcoin surged 5% over the past 24 hours to a new all-time high of $99,000, driven by growing institutional interest and bullish momentum. Ethereum (ETH) soared 10%, while Solana (SOL) jumped 11%.

Memecoins remained largely flat, except for Pepe, which rallied 10%, and Floki (FLOKI), which jumped 7% in the past day and is up 618% year-to-date. FLOKI’s trading volume spiked 150% to $1.43 billion in the past 24 hours after Coinbase announced that trading for the token would begin at 9 AM PT on Thursday.

In the last 24 hours, $457 million of leveraged positions were liquidated, with $184 million coming from short positions, according to CoinGlass.

Bitcoin Inches Toward $100,000

BTC is now on the verge of achieving a $2 trillion market capitalization, currently at $1.94 trillion.

Gracy Chen, CEO at Bitget, highlighted institutional involvement as the main driver behind Bitcoin’s rapid rise. Companies like MicroStrategy have played a significant role, purchasing 51,000 BTC last week at an average price of $88,617 and announcing plans to raise $2.6 billion to buy more.

“The massive spot buying power of traditional funds has caused BTC’s price to rise quickly,” said Chen.

She also noted the psychological significance of the $100,000 mark, which could act as a natural point for investors to reassess their positions, potentially leading to a sell-off. “A breakout above $100K and further upward movement is only a matter of time,” she added.

Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) reached a record 218,110 BTC ($21.37 billion). Rising OI, coupled with Bitcoin’s price gains, is seen as a strong indicator of bullish sentiment. Across all exchanges, total OI stands at $64.2 billion.

“With BTC holding firmly above the 97k mark, it’s now closer than ever to that 100k milestone. Throughout the week, our desk observed aggressive demand in March and June Calls, signaling investors’ long-term bullish sentiment for next year,” wrote analysts at QCP Capital, a digital asset trading firm.