Crypto Markets Soar On Trump Election Victory

The crypto market surged Wednesday as U.S. voters picked Donald Trump as the nation’s next president.

Bitcoin (BTC) climbed 7% to $75,275, an all-time high, while Ethereum (ETH) rose 9% to $2,680. Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT) gained 12% and 5%, respectively, pushing the global crypto market cap up 6% to $2.62 trillion.

Republican Donald J. Trump has been elected the 47th President of the United States. According to The Guardian, Trump secured 71,202,731 votes, 51% of the total, while Kamala Harris received 66,264,540 votes.

Over the past 24 hours, $577 million in liquidations swept across exchanges, impacting 126,354 traders, according to data from CoinGlass. Short positions, which bet on falling prices, accounted for 64% of liquidations.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has climbed to 70, signaling "Greed" in the market.

Meanwhile, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF recorded $1 billion in trading volume within its first 20 minutes of market activity.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said,“ $IBIT has seen $1b in volume in the first 20min — that's about what it does in a full day. Other Bitcoin ETFs in the same boat, crazy volume. Set for a record-breaking volume day.”

DeFi Tokens Rally

DeFi tokens Aave and Uniswap surged 24% and 31% in the last 24 hours. Maker, Compound, and Lido also rallied 10%, 11%, and 16%, respectively.

Aave's rally may be linked to its partnership with the Trump-backed DeFi platform World Liberty Financial.

On Oct. 9, World Liberty Financial introduced a preliminary temperature check proposal on Aave’s governance forum, aiming to deploy its platform on Aave v3, the largest DeFi money market. The proposal outlines an incentive structure for AaveDAO, offering 20% of its transaction fees and allocating 7% of its governance token supply, WLFI, to the DAO.

Mena Theodorou, co-founder of the crypto exchange Coinstash, believes Bitcoin’s next target is $100,000.

“In the wake of Bitcoin reaching all-time highs today, the end of political unpredictability, paired with Trump’s business-friendly agenda and pledged regulatory shifts, could mean the path to USD $100K is in sight,” Theodorou said.

Tim Kravchunovsky, founder and CEO of decentralized telecommunications network Chirp, expressed skepticism about the long-term impact of Trump's promises on the crypto sector.

“Over the last few months, Trump has pledged to make Bitcoin a reserve currency, fire Gary Gensler, push through crypto-friendly regulation, and more. But if he doesn’t deliver on these promises quickly, the euphoria could turn to disappointment, which has the potential to result in crypto market volatility,” he said.

Traditional financial markets also rallied. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 3.4%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rallied to all-time highs, increasing by 2.3% and 2.6%, respectively.