- Bitcoin cooled off after nearly topping $123,000, with analysts saying the rally appears to be in its early stages rather than ending.
- Arca’s CIO noted that current open interest in altcoins is nowhere near the frothy levels seen at prior market peaks.
- XRP is trading near $2.91 and is approaching its all-time resistance around $3.00.
Bitcoin pulled back from session highs during U.S. trading on Monday after nearly reaching $123,000 earlier in the day.
Despite the brief cooldown, analysts argue it’s too soon to call a market peak. The broader crypto rally still looks early, and significant regulatory developments brewing in Washington, D.C. could add further tailwinds.
A rally in its infancy? Gauging market momentum
Following a powerful gain of more than 10% in under a week—which pushed some altcoins even higher—it’s natural for prices to enter a consolidation phase as traders digest recent moves and lock in profits.
Bitcoin slipped below $120,000 late in the U.S. session but still managed to finish with a modest 0.6% gain over the past 24 hours.
Other major cryptocurrencies saw steeper pullbacks: Ethereum’s Ether (ETH) dropped back below $3,000, while Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano’s ADA and Stellar’s XLM slid roughly 2%–3% on the day.
Among larger tokens, XRP, SUI and Uniswap’s UNI outperformed, posting gains of about 2.5%, 10% and 6%, respectively.
Crypto-linked stocks retraced some of their strong morning gains as well, though MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Galaxy (GLXY) still closed higher by roughly 3%–4%, and Coinbase (COIN) rose about 1.5%.
Despite the consolidation, Jeff Dorman, CIO of investment firm Arca, says this leg of the crypto rally looks more like an early phase than an approaching end.
In a Monday investor note he cited crypto analyst Will Clemente’s observations about prior market peaks—such as the Bitcoin ETF-fueled spike in March 2024 and the frenzy around the 2024–2025 U.S. election cycle—where open interest, particularly in altcoin derivatives, surged past Bitcoin’s, signaling broad speculative excess.
“This current rally is nowhere near that,” Dorman said, indicating the market has not yet reached an overindulgent state.
He added that although trading volumes on centralized and decentralized exchanges rose about 23% week-over-week, they remain well below the levels seen during previous broad market rallies.
The bigger picture: sovereign debt and institutional adoption
Looking beyond short-term charts, some view Bitcoin’s rise as driven by deeper, long-term forces.
Eric Demuth, CEO of Europe-based crypto exchange Bitpanda, told TheStreet that excessive sovereign debt and investors seeking refuge from monetary inflation are key drivers behind BTC’s move.
While he called a rise to €200,000 (about $233,000) “definitely a possibility,” Demuth emphasized that the asset’s underlying adoption matters more than any specific price target.
“What happens when Bitcoin becomes permanently embedded in large investors’ portfolios, in sovereign reserves and in the infrastructure of global banks?” he asked.
Because that is exactly what is happening now.
Demuth expects Bitcoin’s market capitalization to gradually converge toward gold’s over coming years. Gold’s market cap currently sits above $22 trillion—roughly nine times that of BTC—so he anticipates a long-term reallocation of value toward Bitcoin as adoption continues.
XRP nears all-time high, breakout looms
While Bitcoin consolidates, XRP is generating its own headlines.
The token has climbed back to resistance very close to the $3.00 level—a price not seen since its all-time high.
XRP is trading around $2.91, up roughly 2.15% over the past 24 hours, fueling speculation that a significant breakout could be imminent.
“XRP is screaming all-time highs,” crypto analyst Ali Martinez wrote in a recent update on social platform X.
Martinez pointed to a meaningful technical setup, noting XRP is testing the top of a price channel established over several years, right around $3.00.
A decisive move above this psychological and technical level could trigger a sizable rally toward the $4.80 area, he suggested.
This bullish view is supported by a significant rise in XRP’s open interest, which now sits at about $3.409 billion—an indication of increased trader participation and conviction.
After a large build-up of leveraged positions—a common precursor to big price moves—overall sentiment around XRP is bullish.
Reinforcing the uptrend, XRP’s price is consistently trading above its 10-period adaptive moving average, a sign of solid momentum and healthy consolidation.
The coming trading sessions will be important, as investors watch to see whether XRP can turn this prior resistance into a lasting support level, potentially setting the stage for a meaningful run into price-discovery territory.