Leading Cryptocurrencies Edged Higher Thursday as Traders Returned from New Year's Break with Bullish Optimism

Bitcoin surged to $97,700 late afternoon as upward volatility returned to the market.

Major cryptocurrencies traded higher Thursday as traders returned from the New Year's break with bullish optimism.

Bitcoin Surged To $97,700 Late Afternoon: As traders returned from the holiday break, Bitcoin gained steam, surging to $97,700 late afternoon. The leading cryptocurrency lost momentum in its teasing run towards $100,000 on Christmas, but the latest uptick brought its weekly gains into the positive territory.

Bitcoin opened the day at $96,800, hit a morning low of $96,123.03 and reached a high of $97,723.9 before settling in the $97,600 range at 4:15 p.m. EST.

After teasing the上方resistance level at $98,000 on Wednesday, Bitcoin faced strong selling pressure at the key resistance zone,pivoting lower from the morning highs.

Bitcoin Liquidations Hit $83 Mln In Upside Bets: Cryptocurrency liquidations hit $175 million in the last 24 hours, with nearly $83 million in upside bets getting wiped out.

Bitcoin's Open Interest Rose By 0.99%: While Bitcoin futures traders showed less speculative interest with a 0.99% rise in funds locked in unsettled derivatives, traders squared off their short positions, leading to higher liquidations on the upside.

Bitcoin Longs Dropped To 54% Of Total Traders: According to the Long/Short Ratio, the percentage of traders placing long positions on Bitcoin dropped from 62% to 54% in the last 24 hours, hinting at a potential buying surge.

That Said, Markets Became More Greedy: The Crypto Fear & Greed Index hinted at a potential surge in buying pressure, as markets became more greedy in the last 24 hours.

After spending a day in the Neutral zone on Wednesday, the index moved back into Greed territory on Thursday morning, continuing in the upper zone throughout the day.

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $3.41 trillion, following a spike of 2.52% in the last 24 hours.

After opening 2025 with gains on Wednesday, major stock indices closed in the red in Wall Street's first trading session in 2025.

Dow Hit 42,392.27 At Close Of First Trading Session In 2025: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to close at 42,392.27. The S&P 500 slipped 0.22%, ending at 5,868.55, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.16% to end at 19,280.79.

Stocks opened the new year with gains on Wednesday, as traders returned from the New Year's break with optimism for 24-hour clock gains in the new year.

Cryptocurrency-related stocks rose during Thursday's trading session, with both MicroStrategy Inc. MSTR and Coinbase Global, Inc. COIN closing 3.59% higher.

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Analyst Notes: Influential cryptocurrency analyst Rekt Capital presented their outlook for 2025.

"2025 will likely see the BTC bull market peak and the very beginnings of a brand new bear market," the analyst projected. "The majority of the bear market will take place, however, in 2026."

2025 will likely see the #BTC Bull Market peak and the very beginnings of a brand new Bear Market

The majority of the Bear Market will take place however in 2026

The Bear Market would last some 365+ days and be between -65% to -80% deep$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin

Well-known on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant stated that the bull market was far from ending, citing on-chain indicators like network fees and miner sell-offs.

"On-chain data suggests the bull market is still intact, and the current phase appears to be a cooling-off period rather than a cycle peak," the firm added. "However, short-term price movements remain unpredictable."

We Are Still In the Midst of a Bull Market"On-chain data suggests the bull market is still intact, and the current phase appears to be a cooling-off period rather than a cycle peak." – By @Avocado_onchainSee the data 👇https://t.co/HvMD44Lm7e pic.twitter.com/YCSpl0lIHC