Why is crypto up today? Bitcoin’s bounce, New Year buzz, and more  

Bitcoin jumped to $90K again during the Asian trading session on the 29th of December. This was a 2% upswing that followed a quiet holiday after BTC missed the Santa rally, which had lifted U.S. equities to record highs. 

However, CoinGlass data showed that the recent bounce was driven by a liquidity hunt for leveraged shorts positioned above $90K.

Over the past few days, Bitcoin [BTC] has remained range-bound between $85,000 and $90,000, with price action driven by liquidity grabs. 

Source: CoinGlass

With some upside liquidity in the pool at $90.9K, another push higher could be likely in the near term. 

New Year rally expectations and altcoin bounce

But these could be more than just liquidity grabs. According to CryptoQuant, speculators on the Futures market have increasingly upped their bullish bets, perhaps eyeing a New Year rally. 

The Bitcoin Funding Rate, which tracks crypto market sentiment, has surged recently, indicating an increasingly bullish positioning for a potential breakout. 

Source: CryptoQuant

The same stance was echoed by Sebastian Bea, CIO of BTC treasury firm ReserveOne Inc. He noted, 

“Monday’s uptick appears somewhat driven by short-term retail traders taking on growing positions in Futures.”

The altcoin market also picked up some little traction from the BTC’s upswing. Amongst the top daily gainers were Canton [CC], Midnight [NIGHT], and Solana [SOL].

CC was up 10%, followed by NIGHT at 9.4% and SOL came in third at 3%. 

There was also a significant altcoin accumulation trend, led by Chainlink [LINK] and Artificial Superintelligence Alliance [FET]. This was illustrated by the Binance Altcoin Netflow data. 

Source: CryptoQuant

However, the altcoins still lagged behind BTC, with the overall altcoin season index reading at 18. Still, the altcoin market cap broke a key resistance, which may signal a renewed traction, noted analyst Ash Crypto. 

Source: X

Looking forward, the FOMC minutes from the previous meeting are expected to be released on the 30th of December. It will set the pace of January rate cut expectations and trigger some market volatility on New Year’s Eve. 

Final Thoughts

• Bitcoin bounced 2% during the Asian session amid rising bullish bets for a New Year rally and liquidity hunt. 
• Select altcoins posted 3-10% daily price gains with an increasing accumulation trend.