Bitcoin surpassed the $99,000 mark for the first time on Thursday, driven by investor expectations of a potential second Donald Trump presidency.
The cryptocurrency was last up over 4 per cent, priced at $98,273.50, with an earlier peak of $99,046.94, according to Coin Metrics.
Investors took profits in crypto stocks as part of a broader rotation out of tech.
Crypto exchange Coinbase fell by 7.7 per cent, while MicroStrategy dropped 16.2 per cent.
Mining stocks also faced pressure, except for Mara Holdings, which rose by approximately 6.9 per cent.
Bitcoin has been consistently reaching new records this month, fueled by hopes that a second Trump presidency will bring a “golden age” for crypto, including more favorable regulations and the possibility of a national strategic Bitcoin reserve.
The latest surge was triggered by a spike in funding rates and open interest in the futures market during Asian trading hours, while premiums in spot markets fell, according to data from CryptoQuant.
Bitcoin’s recent price surge also triggered a wave of short liquidations, with more than $100 million liquidated in a 24-hour period, according to CoinGlass. This helped propel the price even higher overnight.
“Looking back at previous moves of this magnitude, BTC has historically either gone into a consolidation period, or ignored the overbought condition as investors pile in,” Rob Ginsberg, an analyst at Wolfe Research, said in a Wednesday note.
“Being that we are just breaking out of one of those long consolidation periods, and price is currently at a new high … something tells us the chase is on,” he added. “The real test will come when the major psychological level of $100,000 is likely hit in coming weeks” — and could hit as soon as Thursday.
