Bitcoin shattered records last week, soaring to an all-time high of $93,477 on Nov. 13. Following its meteoric rise, the cryptocurrency eased with a 3% dip, finding steady ground near $88,500.
Several bullish catalysts drove BTC’s rally this week, with the key driver being Donald Trump’s victory in the United States elections.
Trump’s re-election is anticipated to usher the crypto sector into a more favorable regulatory environment.
He has pledged to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” and establish a national Bitcoin reserve.
In a recent X post, Senator Cynthia Lummis, a close ally of Donald Trump, suggested that such an initiative could be implemented within the first 100 days of the Trump administration with bipartisan support.
Many experts speculate that if the United States advances with this plan, other major nations could follow suit, sparking a surge in Bitcoin demand and potentially driving its prices to new highs.
Other factors driving BTC’s momentum that week included Trump’s appointment of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly established Department of Government Efficiency.
The crypto sector believes this could strengthen crypto advocacy within Trump’s administration.
Bitcoin also experienced a surge in institutional demand this week, with over $2.3 billion in net flows and only one negative outflow day.
Adding to the momentum, speculation around Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler’s resignation also brought some fresh optimism toward the end of the week.
However, the rally faced headwinds as the United States Federal Reserve signaled that further interest rate cuts might not materialize, contrary to market expectations.
Additionally, reports revealed that the Royal Government of Bhutan, which held over $1 billion in BTC, sold 367 Bitcoin for approximately $33.5 million.
These developments dampened market sentiment, halting Bitcoin’s upward momentum and pushing prices lower, stabilizing at $88,500.
Experts, however, argue that this is merely one of the many minor corrections expected on the path to the $100,000 milestone.
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor remains confident that BTC is on track to hit six digits, dismissing speculation of a retrace toward the $60,000 range.
Just days earlier, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju cautioned that Bitcoin could close the year below $59,000, pointing to an overheated futures market as a key factor behind his bearish outlook.
Saylor, however, sees no immediate “threats” that could drive prices to such lows in the near term.
He expects Bitcoin to surpass $100k by December.
According to crypto analyst Bluntz, the late-week pullback found a bottom around $87,256.
He anticipates that BTC will target the significant $100,000 resistance level next, following a brief period of consolidation in the coming days.
On a similar note, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets at VanEck, said BTC was on the path to $180,000, with periodic corrections expected along the way.
Meanwhile, pseudonymous analyst Chimp of the North projected a $140,000 target by the end of 2024 and a cycle high of $210,00 by May 2025.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap hit a weekly high of over $3.1 trillion but had receded to around $3 trillion at the time of writing.
In the altcoin market, memecoins initially led the charts throughout the week.
The top gainers for the week were:
Peanut the Squirrel
Peanut the Squirrel claimed the top spot with an impressive 1,688% gain over the past 7 days.
The meme coin was commanding a market cap of over $2 billion despite launching just last month. In its short existence, the token surpassed some older peers, including Brett, Popcat, and MEW.
Source: CoinMarketCap
The biggest push for the meme coin after its listing on Binance, alongside several other prominent centralized exchanges.
PEPE
Pepe (PEPE) was up over 95% percent this week and was one of the most talked about meme coins that was seen trending across social media platforms throughout the week.
The token has a market cap of over $8.8 billion and is supported by some prominent names like Authur Hayes.
Source: CoinMarketCap
While PEPE enjoyed the market enthusiasm sparked by Bitcoin’s recent rally, the token’s listing on Coinbase and Robinhood helped it reach a new all-time high on Nov. 14.
Meanwhile, whales have also accumulated significant portions of the token over the week.
Dogecoin
The biggest and the industry’s first meme coin, DOGE, with a market cap of over $53 billion, was up a little over 82% this week.
Source: CoinMaketCap
Enthusiasm around Dogecoin was fuelled by the broader market sentiment, but a major uptick in price followed right after Musk, who is an avid supporter of the meme, confirmed he was leading the Department of Government Efficiency, which, even though not related to the crypto, is abbreviated as D.O.G.E.
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