Morning Minute | Bitcoin Soars to $98,000 and New ATH

 Morning Minute | Bitcoin Soars to $98,000 and New ATH

TylerD's Market Summary

📈 The March to $100k Bitcoin Is On

Famous crypto trader said that Bitcoin's road from $80k to $100k would be the tough part.

And the path from $100k to $250k would be easy.

Well, if this was the tough part - we all better buckle up.

What Happened?

Bitcoin’s price surged to over $98,000 overnight, breaking previous highs of $95,000.

It's now just a 2% move away from hitting the major psychological number of $100,000.

This rally has been driven by the launch of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in January and the recent start of options trading on those ETFs which launched this week.

The surge triggered $100 million in liquidations, mostly from short sellers.

Market analysts attribute the rally to:

  • strong post-election sentiment
  • Trump seemingly building out a crypto-friendly cabinet (and potentially a stand-alone Crypto leadership position)
  • Federal Reserve rate cuts
  • favorable developments like AI advancements and ETF activity.

Importantly, Bitcoin's funding rates remain reasonable, indicating a rational market rather than speculative frenzy (meaning there's more room to run).

Why It Matters

$100,000 is a major level for Bitcoin.

Perhaps the most important we've seen to date.

Retail and those on the sidelines have started to pay attention to Bitcoin post-Trump election as news of its ATH has circulated.

They likely thought they had time to enter.

Well, now it's speedrunning.

FOMO will kick in soon, if it hasn't already.

And this is also where the Lindy effect kicks in. The higher Bitcoin goes, the safer it feels.

Buckle up, the next few months could get pretty crazy.

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

  • Ethereum led NFT trading volume with $8.8M on the day; Solana was next with $3.8M, and then Bitcoin with $2.9M
  • ETH NFT leaders were mostly red; Punks even at 36 ETH, Pudgy -5% at 11.6 ETH, BAYC -3% at 13, Milady -4% at 5.65
  • Ceden Keystone (+90%) and Mocaverse (+27%) led notable top movers
  • BTC NFT leaders were also red; Bitcoin Puppets -3% at 0.145 BTC, NodeMonkes -8% at 0.12 BTC, OMB -3% at 0.135, Quantum Cats -1% at 0.188
  • The Runes leaders were also very red; DOG -6% at $720M mc, PUPS -13% at $265M, BDC -7% at $130M, CYPHER even at $35M
  • XCOPY has an Art Blocks drop today called “ICXN," a 1/1/500 collection with coding help from Aaron Penne
  • Joe Pease minted out his "everything vs nothing" collection of 30 pieces for a combined 373.7 ETH ($1.15M)
  • Justin Sun won the auction for the "Comedian" piece (the banana taped to a wall) for $6.24M at Sotheby's yesterday

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

  • Moonshot recorded its highest revenue day of all time on Wednesday with $215k in fees
  • Rekt Coin announced it's launching this Friday at 5 am ET and shared initial tokenomics including 63.5% of the tokens going to the community
  • Vader launched a new vision to be the "Blackrock of AI Agents" with 3 prongs: Network of specialized AI Agent traders, Investment DAO managed by an AI Agent, and Live staking with access to rewards
  • Arkham Intel announced it will launch a spot trading platform in the US

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

  • Crypto majors are green with Bitcoin leading; BTC +5% at $98,000, ETH +3% at $3,190, SOL +2% at $242; BCH (+17%) and MNT (+8%) were top alt movers
  • Memecoin majors are mostly red; DOGE -1% at $0.384, SHIBA -1%, PEPE -3%, BONK -6%, WIF -4%, POPCAT -7%; FARTCOIN and ZEREBRO were notable winners, each up 50%
  • Memecoin CHILLGUY saw a staggering $700M in onchain trading volume after the original meme artist threatened legal action, causing volatile price action (now at $360M mc)
  • The ANON token (tied to a consumer zk app going viral on Farcaster) spiked 350% after Vitalik bought some of the token yesterday (now $34M)
  • NVIDIA reported record-breaking earnings in its call Wednesday afternoon, though shares still dipped 3% in early after-hours trading
  • DCG launched its new TAO (Bittensor)-focused subsidiary Yuma as it continues to invest further into decentralized AI
  • DWF Labs announced a new $20M fund to support memecoin projects and amplify their reach
  • Coinbase introduced 4.7% yield on USDC in the Coinbase Wallet for USDC holders
  • Bitwise officially registered its Bitwise Solana ETF in Delaware
  • The Trump team is reportedly considering adding the first-ever Crypto position for the White House
  • Elon and Vivek announced their official Dogecast podcast coming for the Dept of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

  • $GRUMPY (+44000% to $63M market cap, SOL)
  • $LOLA (+150% to $17M market cap, SOL)
  • $PROJECT89 (+90% to $66M market cap, SOL)
  • $BUCK (+90% to $37M market cap, SOL)
  • $FARTCOIN (+70% to $370M market cap, SOL)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

  • CEDEN (95%, 0.13 ETH Floor)
  • Flowers (70%, 6.25 ETH floor)
  • mocaverse (27%, 1.4 ETH)
  • Prime Navigator (20%, 0.35 ETH)
  • Pixelmon (12%, 0.23 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming Mints and Events

Today is a busy day of mints mostly focused in art.

XCOPY's drop on Art Blocks is likely the highlight today, with 450 pieces up for grabs at 0.0015 ETH (allowlist only).

See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor

  • XCOPY x Art Blocks (10:00 a.m. ET)
  • Holdera (11:00 a.m. ET)
  • Harto x ForbesWeb3 x AOI (12:00 p.m. ET)
  • illaDaProducer - Girl from Tokyo (2:00 p.m. ET)

Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email to tyler.d.warner@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: The author or members of the Lucky Trader staff may own NFTs discussed in this post. Furthermore, the information contained on this website or the Lucky Trader mobile application is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. AI may have assisted in the creation of this content.