Major cryptocurrencies surged ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, a time known for surprising market shifts. Bitcoin (BTC) spiked above $97,000, fueling social media chatter about the potential for the $100,000 milestone, before pulling back to around $95,500 during Asian trading hours on Thursday.
Bitcoin gained 3.3% over the past 24 hours, positioning itself for a Thanksgiving weekend that historically has seen sudden price fluctuations. This strength in BTC also supported other major tokens. Ether (ETH) led the pack with a 7% surge, followed by XRP and BNB Chain, which rose 6%, and Dogecoin (DOGE), which gained more than 5%.
A CoinDesk analysis on Wednesday highlighted increasing activity in ETH-linked futures and on-chain transactions, suggesting traders are anticipating volatility following updates related to Ethereum. Ethereum’s revenue, fees, new wallets, and on-chain volumes have all shown significant increases over the past month, outperforming the May to September period. Furthermore, cumulative open interest in ETH futures contracts has hit a record high of 6.32 million ETH, valued at over $27 billion, signaling bullish sentiment for Ethereum.
In other areas, DeFi tokens like Aave (AAVE) and Uniswap (UNI) saw gains of 9%, while memecoins Pepe (PEPE) and Mog (MOG) spiked more than 8%, reflecting their tendency to track ETH movements, as noted by CoinDesk in May.
According to traders at QCP Capital, the flow of capital is shifting toward ETH, supported by broader equity market trends favoring risky assets. “The market is shifting flows to ETH, as seen in the 13% surge in the ETH/BTC pair to 0.0366 from its post-election low of 0.0318,” QCP stated. “ETH even outperformed the broader CoinDesk 20 Index, which rose only 0.5%.”
QCP further pointed to Wall Street’s record highs following President-elect Trump’s nomination of Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary, which helped boost market sentiment. Bessent, a former Soros Fund Management investor known for his successful bet against the British pound, is seen as a market-friendly figure with the potential to influence policy, boosting investor optimism and contributing to a broad market rally.
Bessent has expressed his belief that crypto represents “freedom” and that the sector has long-term staying power, especially among younger people who may have previously been excluded from traditional markets.
