Crypto markets posted modest features, with Ethereum and Solana rallying 4%.
The cryptocurrency market recorded modest features on Wednesday as Bitcoin (BTC) hit a brand new all-time excessive.
BTC is at the moment buying and selling above $109,000, up 4% on the day and 5% over the previous week. The most recent surge pushes its market capitalization to $2.1 trillion, in accordance with CoinGecko. BTC’s earlier excessive of round $108,000 was hit earlier this yr following President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Ethereum (ETH) rose 4% to $2,580, whereas Solana (SOL) climbed 4% to $172. XRP additionally posted features, rising 3% to commerce at $2.41.
The overall cryptocurrency market capitalization elevated by 1.3% on the day to $3.53 trillion. In the identical time interval, leveraged liquidations totaled $243 million, in accordance with CoinGlass. BTC led liquidations with $70 million, adopted by ETH at round $68 million.
On Might 20, spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) noticed inflows of roughly $329 million, whereas Ethereum ETFs attracted $65 million, in accordance with information from SoSoValue.
Bitcoin ATH
“Bitcoin has just reached a new all-time high, and technically, the barriers to further growth have been removed,” mentioned Dr. Kirill Kretov from CoinPanel. “Liquidity has been significantly withdrawn from exchanges since late 2024, making the market thinner and more reactive.”
This implies the worth can transfer shortly with little effort, he added, noting that structurally, there’s room for explosive upside. Dr. Kretov attributed the latest value surge and broader market volatility to a mixture of rising leverage amongst merchants and rising institutional inflows by way of ETFs and personal offers.
“Currently, Open Interest (OI) in BTC is pushing toward all-time highs, and this is happening alongside strong evidence of institutional participation, including ETF flows, large on-chain transactions, and OTC activity,” he mentioned.
In accordance with Dr. Kretov, in low-liquidity environments – which his blockchain evaluation has indicated since November 2024 – elevated OI turns into vital. “It means more leverage is in the system, and it increases the probability of violent liquidation events, both upward and downward,” he mentioned.
That mentioned, uncertainty stays excessive, he cautioned, and “big players are not chasing price; they’re extracting profits from volatility, not betting unhedged in one direction.”
