In a powerful display of independent momentum, the cryptocurrency market has charged ahead with a significant rally, even as traditional US stock markets remained shut for the Thanksgiving holiday. Bitcoin, the world's leading digital currency, spearheaded this surge, decisively breaking back above the crucial $90,000 mark.
A Holiday Surge for Digital Assets
While American traders were enjoying their holiday feast, the global crypto market, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, was busy cooking up gains. Bitcoin jumped back above $90,000 on Wednesday for the first time since November 20. The momentum continued into Thursday, with the price reaching approximately $91,600 in early trading, according to data from CoinDesk. This represents a impressive gain of more than 5% over the past 24 hours.
This recent upswing has pushed Bitcoin's weekly performance into positive territory, with a 7.5% increase so far this week. The rally provides a welcome recovery from recent lows around $82,000. Despite this bullish move, Bitcoin still remains about 28% below its all-time high of $126,272.76, which was set in early October.
Altcoins Join the Festive Rally
Bitcoin was not alone in its upward trajectory. Other major cryptocurrencies also enjoyed substantial gains, creating a broad-based rally across the digital asset space.
- Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, was up 4.2%, trading at $3,035.
- XRP, a popular altcoin, saw a more modest but positive increase of 1%.
- Solana (SOL) demonstrated strong performance with a jump of 3.6%.
This collective surge underscores a growing investor confidence that extends beyond just the flagship cryptocurrency.
Decoupling from Traditional Markets?
The most notable aspect of this crypto rally is that it occurred without the direct support of a concurrent upswing in the US stock market, which was closed. In recent months, cryptocurrency prices have often moved in correlation with tech stocks and other risk assets. However, this independent gain is being viewed as a potentially significant shift.
Analyst Joshua Mahony from Scope Markets highlighted the importance of this development. He noted that the recent declines in crypto had mirrored wider market drops, raising concerns about the sector's dependence. "The gains seen in bitcoin raise optimism for a similarly positive session for U.S. stocks despite today’s holiday closure," Mahony stated, suggesting that crypto's strength could now be a leading indicator for traditional markets.
This week's performance in the crypto sphere actually mirrors the stock market's own pre-holiday rally. The S&P 500 had climbed 4.2% over the previous four trading days, its best run since May. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite did even better, rising 5.2%.
For the Indian crypto community and global investors alike, this independent rebound is an encouraging sign. It suggests that digital assets can find their own footing and generate momentum based on their unique market dynamics. While cryptocurrencies still have substantial ground to recover to reach their previous peaks, the last 24 hours have provided a robust and optimistic start.
