Bitcoin Hits Another Milestone, Topping $77K for First Time; Funding Rates Suggest Crypto Rally Can Keep Going

Cardano's ADA, Polygon's POL advanced 15% as the broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index outperformed BTC.

Bitcoin price milestones continue to fall in the wake of Donald Trump's election victory, with BTC on Friday morning for the first time surpassing $77,000 and some lagging altcoins finally joining the rally following the Federal Reserve rate cut.

The world’s largest and oldest cryptocurrency hit a new record price of $77,105 during U.S. trading hours, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Index (XBX), although it’s only managed to eke out a 0.2% gain over the past 24 hours. The broad market CoinDesk 20 Index outperformed, with the native tokens of Cardano (ADA) and Polygon (POL) both surging 15%.

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Ethereum price ether (ETH) advanced 3% to just shy of $3,000, its strongest price in more than three months, as the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector gains steam. DeFi stands to gain the most from more accommodating digital asset regulations in the U.S. that crypto market participants hope for from a new administration led by Trump. Solana (SOL), a layer-1 blockchain network considered the main contender for Ethereum's DeFi dominance, topped $200 for the first time since April.

A glance at traditional markets shows the S&P 500 crossing the 6,000 mark for the first time ever amid upbeat equities markets following Trump's decisive win in the U.S. presidential election.

While crypto assets booked double-digit gains during this week, with BTC sitting at record highs, funding rates for perpetual swaps on crypto exchanges are showing much closer to neutral levels than the market top in early March, CoinGlass data shows. Funding rate refers to the amount long traders pay shorts to take the opposite side of a trade. When funding rates are negative, shorts pay the fee to longs, as this relationship often occurs during bearish periods.

"Zero signs of market froth in funding rates," noted Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat.

The muted frothiness suggests that crypto prices have much more room to advance higher, with one market participant seeing bitcoin getting as high as $125,000.

"We're in the 7th inning of [the] bull market," or at the beginning of the final third of the rally, Ari Paul, founder and CIO of digital asset investment firm BlockTower, said in an X post.

He said recent buyers appear to be positioning for a six- to 12-month rally, driven mostly by institutional investors rather than retail, suggesting a more gradual climb to his targets. Retail interest will increase along with leverage as the rally progresses. He recommended buying and holding a few select crypto assets as a strategy over the coming months, arguing that more active trading will likely be more profitable at the final stages of the bull run.

"This phase, the 7th inning, takes us to $90K-$125K," Paul said. "Then we have 2 more innings left and the last are usually the most parabolic."

Edited by Nick Baker.