After a rocky start to the week, optimism returned to the cryptocurrency, helping Bitcoin settle down above $100,000 once again in 2025. Bitcoin dropped to a weekly low around the $90k area on January 13, Bitcoin has managed to surge over 14% to settle around $103,861 as of Friday. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization was hovering around the $3.8 trillion mark following an influx of liquidity that suggests traders had regained some of the confidence that was lost due to unfavorable macroeconomic data released the previous week. Why is Bitcoin going up? Bitcoin’s early week slowdown was reversed after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released data showing a decline in core inflation, with the core Consumer Price Index dropping from 0.3% in November to 0.2% in December. On an annual basis, core inflation eased from 3.3% to 3.2%. Adding more fuel to the fire, several reports claimed that incoming US President Donald Trump could be signing executive on his first day in office. Crypto proponents are hopeful that Trump’s pro-crypto efforts could help bring fresh liquidity into the market as regulatory pushbacks ease under his pro-crypto administration. The market optimism was reflected among institutional players as well, with inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs returning towards the end of the week, which helped strengthen the upward rally. Following two days of outflows, over $1.38 billion went into the 12-spot ETF offerings, wiping off losses. Meanwhile, on-chain data suggested that buyer demand across the US was increasing. According to CryptoQuant, this was highlighted by Coinbase premium data, which measures US sentiment by comparing the difference between Coinbase’s BTC/USD pair and Binance’s BTC/USDT equivalent. CryptoQuant analysts noted that the Coinbase Premium had flipped positive for the first time since early January, driven by the hype around Trump’s inauguration. A positive premium means US traders are willing to increase BTC exposure. Bitcoin’s open interest had also rebounded after a holiday season dip, according to crypto commentator Miles Deutscher, who wrote “the bulls are back” in a January 17 X post. With momentum back in the market, experts predict the rally could continue over the weekend. According to analysts at Matrixport, a break above $103,000 would confirm that BTC was back in bullish territory. When writing, Bitcoin was priced at around $103,972, up 4.6% on the day. A bullish case for Bitcoin was highlighted by crypto analyst Elija, who noted that BTC often dips a few days before a presidential inauguration, only to surge by the day of the event. Bitcoin’s current price trajectory appears to follow a similar pattern. Well-followed analyst Ali Martinzed, in the meantime, pointed out that Bitcoin had broken out of a multi-month cup and handle pattern, which could push its price as high as $276,400 in the coming weeks. However, traders must be cautious about a possible “sell the news” event on the day of Trump’s inauguration. In such a scenario, Bitcoin’s price could face a temporary pullback as investors capitalize on recent gains, potentially disrupting the ongoing rally. Altcoins regain strength Altcoins had a profitable week as well, fuelled by Bitcoin’s end-of-the-week rally and lighter US CPI data that reignited investor enthusiasm. The altcoin season index went up by 5 points over the past week to hit 50. While this doesn’t confirm the onset of the alt season, it indicates that momentum is returning to the market. The top gainers for the week had all posted double-digit gains. Fartcoin Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) led the highest gains over the past week among the largest 100 crypto assets by market cap. Source: CoinMarketCap The Solana-based meme coin rallied 69.4% over the last 7 days to $1.42 at press time while its market cap has jumped to $1.41 billion. Most of the gains seen over the week came after Bitrue announced the launch of Fartcoin staking on its platform. Further, FARTCOIN’s listing on the crypto exchange SwissBorg and cross-chain swap protocol SWFT Blockchain also brought additional momentum to this week’s rally. XDC Network XDC Network (XDC) took the second spot with recorded gains of 62.7%, lifting its price to a 39-month high of $0.1375 while its market cap stood at $2 billion. Source: CoinMarketCap The altcoins trading volume has increased from $58 million observed on January 10 to over $138 million when writing. XDC’s recent rally came following its integration on PillarX, a multichain dApp platform. Further, crypto exchange OX.FUN also listed the altcoin on its leverage trading platform bringing more exposure to the crypto asset. XRP Ripple (XRP) rose 40.4% over the last week as its market cap soared to over $185 billion, cementing its position as the third-largest crypto asset in the market. Source: CoinMarketCap XRP traders pushed its price on hopes that Trump’s new administration would put an end to the 6-year-old litigation against Ripple brought upon by the US SEC. Adding to the momentum, asset management giant Grayscale Investments reopened its XRP Trust for accredited investors, which is expected to bring in institutional investments. The post FartCoin, XDC, and XRP lead weekly gains as Bitcoin turns bullish appeared first on Invezz
