Bitcoin Breaches $100K Barrier, Market Cap Hits $3.5T as Experts Eye 'Classic Correction Completion'

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price action on Monday decisively broke through the key $100,000 level, hitting a peak of $102,482 in the early trading session.

Bitcoin morning session price action was up 3.2% to $102,250 with experts highlighting a “classic correction completion” and an environment for continued growth, but cautioning that a sustained altcoin rally was up in the air given Bitcoin's continued strong market dominance.

The surge in Bitcoin price brought the total cryptocurrency market capitalization to over $3.5 trillion, the highest level since mid-December, according to analysts at FxPro.

Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) price action morning session was up 3% to $3,736, along with altcoins such as Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) and Avalanche (CRYPTO: AVAX) which increased 4% and 7%, respectively.

“This suggests the classic correction completion with a resumption of the growth. The sentiment index is also indicating ‘extreme greed,’ which suggests active buying,” FxPro senior financial analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said in a note, adding that the scenario would be confirmed if the historical highs of around $109,000 are confidently breached.

“We expect Bitcoin’s growth to accelerate after the $100,000 mark.”

Bitcoin Rally Brings Less Favorable Conditions For Altcoins

While Bitcoin's rally brought renewed optimism to the market, 10x Research noted that altcoins faced challenges.

Bitcoin dominance, which saw a rise from 50% to 60% between January and November 2024, hindered the performance of altcoins.

Despite a brief dip to 53% that sparked hopes of an “altcoin season,” Bitcoin's dominance returned to approximately 55%, showcasing its power in the cryptocurrency market and potentially signaling “challenges for altcoins—unless the Bitcoin dominance indicator experiences another decline.”

Despite Bitcoin's rally, 10x Research highlighted a quieter phase for the market. Bitcoin dominance remained resilient at around 55% after seeing fluctuations throughout the year.

However, spot trading volumes have seen a drastic reduction, with Binance's spot volume, for instance, dropping to $12 billion from a peak of $65 billion earlier this year.

Institutions, ETF Activity, Levis, Disney, NFT Collections

Renewed stablecoin minting and increased buying from U.S. Bitcoin ETF investors were seen as key factors that could drive the next leg of the market rally as trading activity picked up in the post-holiday season.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, SHIB Prices 90 Days Past

The last time Bitcoin was trading in the range of $100,000, Ethereum was trading around the $3,000 level, Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) was trading in the range of $0.18 and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) was trading around the $0.000044 level.

Bitcoin is up over 400% from its 90-day low of around $19,400, Ethereum is up over 110% from its 90-day low of around $1,700, Dogecoin is up over 2,200% from its 90-day low of around $0.007 and Shiba Inu is up over 300,000% from its 90-day low of around $0.000001.

Crucial Resistance, Support Levels

Bitcoin trades in a range. Resistance and support pivot around the 200-day and 50-day moving averages.

The 200-day moving average, currently at around $20,000, acts as strong support, while the 50-day moving average, currently at around $60,000, provides resistance.

Chart: TradingView