ETH pushed past $3K earlier today for the first time since February.
Major digital asset prices continued to rally on Friday, July 11, with Bitcoin (BTC) setting another new all-time high after blasting through multiple new ATH levels to break above $118,000 early this morning – just a day after surpassing $112,000 for the first time ever.
Since then, the world’s largest digital asset has slightly retraced to $117,740, still up 6% on the day and 9% over the week. BTC’s market capitalization currently stands at approximately $2.34 trillion.
“Bitcoin is entering new territory for price discovery, breaking a months-long range and surpassing its May peak with fresh highs over $116K,” said Thomas Perfumo, Global Economist at Kraken, in comments shared with The Defiant.
Perfumo added that broader financial markets are contributing to the move:
“Concurrently, strength in U.S. equities, currently trading at or near all-time highs, is showcasing a robust risk-on environment, a supportive backdrop for crypto.”
Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest crypto asset by market cap, is also recording strong gains today. ETH is up nearly 8%, trading around $2,994 after briefly breaking above $3,000 earlier this morning to reach $3,027. While this marks ETH’s highest level since February, it remains well below its all-time high of $4,878, set in November 2021.
Other top-10 crypto assets are rallying as well: XRP and Dogecoin (DOGE) are both up double digits on the day, while Solana (SOL) is trading over 6% higher at $166.
Total crypto market capitalization now stands at approximately $3.76 trillion, according to CoinGecko, up from $3.59 trillion just a day earlier. Total crypto trading volume over the past day is currently at $267 billion, continuing to steadily increase this week, according to CoinGecko data.
Liquidations and ETFs Break Records
Meanwhile, more than $1.31 billion in crypto liquidations were recorded over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. Notably, most of the wipe outs came from liquidated short positions, which accounted for $1.16 billion over the past 24 hours – the highest single day short liquidation since 2021. BTC accounted for nearly $681 million, followed by ETH at nearly $262 million.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted their second-highest daily inflows ever on July 10, attracting nearly $1.2 billion, according to SoSoValue. BTC spot ETFs highest daily inflow was $1.38 billion on Nov. 7, 2024. Spot ETH ETFs experienced more modest inflows at $383 million. This marks the sixth consecutive day of net inflows for both products.
Macro Takes
The latest surge reflects renewed investor appetite for digital assets amid a combination of macroeconomic uncertainty, institutional inflows, and broader risk-on sentiment in traditional markets, experts said.
“Recent U.S. policy developments such as fiscal expansion and expectations of further monetary easing have created a backdrop that is undeniably favorable for Bitcoin,” Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen, said in comments shared with The Defiant, adding:
“We’re seeing Bitcoin treasury strategies proliferate across companies, which reflects growing institutional confidence in BTC as a balance sheet asset.”
Bitcoin treasury companies like Strategy and Metaplanet now hold around 725,000 BTC, worth around $85.5 billion, or about 3.64% of all BTC in circulation, The Defiant reported on July 10.
Sondergaard added that BTC also recently broke through key liquidation levels and held above them – a signal, he said, that there was more room for upside. “This triggered a broader rally across the crypto market, with many tokens following BTC’s lead.”
From a broader macro perspective, Sondergaard cited expectations around President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) as a driver, which he noted “could imply more fiscal stimulus and money printing are generally supportive of Bitcoin’s narrative as a hedge against monetary debasement.” He explained this could be one of the more structural reasons behind BTC’s latest rally.
As for ETH market sentiment, Sondergaard noted that “there’s now a sense that the worst may be behind us, and optimism is returning,” with ETH benefiting from this improved outlook and broader rally.
