Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, broke above the $21,000 mark on Saturday.
The move encouraged crypto investors who have been reeling from the collapse of several top crypto companies, including cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
This is the first time since November 8, 2022 that Bitcoin BTCUSD,
+0.68%
crossed $20,000 and follows 11 days of gains.
The rally hurt the bears who liquidated hundreds of millions of dollars in short positions. According to Coinglass, these totaled around $125 million for January 14 alone, with the period from January 11 bringing nearly $300 million in short liquidations.
Second largest Ether token ETHE,
+0.36%
jumped as high as 9.7%, and others like Cardano ADAUSD,
+1.14%
and Dogecoin DOGEUSD,
+1.11%
also recorded gains. SOLUSD from Solana,
+7.00%
increased to 35%.
The gains pushed the total cryptocurrency market capitalization above the $1 trillion mark for the first time since November, according to data from CoinGecko.
After falling from just above $67,500 to a low near $15,000, a 77% loss from top to bottom, Bitcoin spent about 13 months mostly going sideways, until buyers reappear this week.
See also: What’s behind Bitcoin’s big rally and why crypto traders are betting the worst is over
The current surge in bitcoin’s value comes after the US Department of Labor released data showing that inflation is moderating with consumer prices up 6.5% in December from 7.1% in November. .
“Crypto-assets performed well after the soft CPI print, suggesting that crypto’s correlation to the macro isn’t going away anytime soon,” said Sean Farrell, head of asset strategy. digital at Fundstrat to Bloomberg.
“Tracking this week’s price action is certainly encouraging,” and barring any forced liquidations from struggling crypto firm DCG, “there is a strong likelihood that the all-time low will be reached for the price of the cryptography”.