The cryptocurrency market remained relatively calm throughout the weekend. Bitcoin maintained its price of over $90,000 and is now pushing higher once again. The total capitalization is expanding above $3.2 trillion on the back of gains of mid-cap cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin Price Pushes $92K

As mentioned above, Bitcoin’s price remained within a relatively narrow range on Saturday and Sunday, with one exception yesterday.

The bears attempted to push BTC below $89K, but the buyers were very quick to scoop up some coins at a discount, providing for a V-shaped recovery.

At the time of this writing, BTC is trading at slightly less than $92,000 as the bulls are now testing this level. A clear breakout above it would make way for a challenge of the all-time high.

Meanwhile, as we reported earlier today, a few events might stir the crypto market in the upcoming days. These include:

1. NVIDIA reports earnings on Wednesday.
2. Existing home sales data on Thursday.
3. MI consumer sentiment report on Friday.

It’s also worth noting that the industry is anticipating the resignation of the current chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Nothing is official as of yet, but many took the open letter he wrote last week as a goodbye note.

Ripple Bulls Look for Next Targets

The altcoin market paints a mixed picture as some of the cryptocurrencies are going through marginal corrections. Examples include Ethereum, BNB, AVAX, SUI, Aptos, and more.

Others, on the other hand, are charting considerable gains. The past few days have all been about Ripple’s XRP, which exploded above $1 on Saturday and continues trading in the green, charting an increase of around 7.5% in the past 24 hours.

More impressive than XRP’s performance throughout the past day, however, is that of Hedera (HBAR), Mantra (OM), and Stellar (XLM). These are up by 30%, 27%, and 22%, respectively.

Bitcoin (BTC) and the rest of the crypto market have been booming since Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election on November 5.

While institutional capital has played an instrumental role in the current rally, retail investors are not far behind.

Bitcoin Retail Investors

New data points to a sharp rise in retail investors entering the Bitcoin market. This is evident in Bitcoin’s Spent Output Value Bands (SOVB) metric shared by CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, which revealed that transaction volumes under $100K have surged to a three-year high.

This trend is represented by the dominance of smaller transaction bands, which essentially points to an increased participation from retail investors rather than large institutional players. The spike aligns with Bitcoin’s recent price appreciation.

Meanwhile, there’s also been a rise in Bitcoin transactions over $1 million. The exec believes large investors might be waiting for more retail buyers to enter the market, especially as Bitcoin nears $100K.

While some price corrections are possible, he doesn’t think they’ll lead to a bear market. Instead, he sees this as the start of bigger market activity driven by growing retail and institutional interest.

Bitcoin Has A Long Way To Go

Bitcoin’s recent climb to a new all-time high above $90,000 has sparked optimism. After a brief profit-taking, the crypto asset appears to be flirting with this milestone. As such, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood believes that Bitcoin has “a long way to go.”

In a recent interview, Wood noted that ARK Invest first invested in Bitcoin at $250 in 2015, and even at $90,000, she remains bullish. She attributes its momentum to increasing regulatory clarity under the current US administration.

The executive also added that Bitcoin is emerging as a distinct asset class. Institutions are recognizing its unique behavior compared to traditional investments, which has successfully fueled its broader adoption and allocation. She expects BTC’s price to reach $650,000 by 2030.

Quinn Thompson, the founder of crypto hedge fund Lekker Capital, echoed a similar sentiment that Bitcoin is just getting started and even predicted that it would soon hit the highly anticipated $100,000 milestone. While he is confident this will happen by the end of the year, he also believes it might occur as early as the end of this month. Speaking to Fortune, Thompson said,

“The market is realizing just how big of a regime shift is underway. The US government and regulatory bodies, the strongest entities in the world, are now moving away from an anti-crypto stance to one of embrace.”

And while on the subject of Bitcoin’s future price, here’s a video where we attempt to answer the question: is it too late to buy Bitcoin in 2024?

TL;DR

• XRP’s price surged, fueled by speculation about a potential pro-crypto shift at the US SEC.
• Analysts predict further gains, with targets ranging to as high as $13.

Further Rally Incoming?

Ripple’s XRP has been one of the crypto market’s frontrunners lately. A few days ago, its price touched a three-year high of $1.20, while currently, it hovers around $1.16 (per CoinGecko’s data). Meanwhile, XRP’s market capitalization surged above $65 billion, thus flipping Dogecoin (DOGE) as the sixth-biggest cryptocurrency.

Perhaps the most apparent factor fueling the asset’s bull run is the growing speculation that Gary Gensler (the current Chairman of the US SEC) might soon vacate his post. During his tenure, the agency has filed countless lawsuits against crypto businesses, including Ripple. The community expects a pro-crypto replacement, and some rumors suggest this might be the case. 

Multiple analysts believe XRP has yet to pump hard. X user EGRAG CRYPTO claimed the asset no longer trades alongside “the genuine wake-up line,” assuming “a mega move” to a new all-time high of $7 could be on the horizon. 

Dark Defender was even more bullish. The strategist thinks the minor correction will last only a few days and that XRP will then “continue the momentum.” 

“You might not believe this, and it might seem as artificial, but is is not: We have a golden target of $13.085 (NFA) which became crystal clear yesterday. Strange, isn’t it? Melting process will continue,” they predicted. 

Crypto King also chipped in, albeit outlining a more modest forecast than the aforementioned analysts.

$XRP / USDT ( UPDATE )

Probably the next leg up to 1.5$ soon. While liquidity is flowing into altcoins , I feel #XRP is gonna be sending hard. pic.twitter.com/vgWuBTdSqj

— Crypto King.eth.sol (@cryptosanthoshK) November 18, 2024

Previous Predictions

Other popular analysts who envision bright days ahead for XRP include CryptoBull and Crypto Assets Guy. The former described the $1.28 level as the most important barrier in the near future, speculating that the next target could be $1.96 and eventually a new peak of almost $4.

Crypto Assets Guy believes XRP will explode to double-digit territory this cycle, asking the community if they think a triple-digit scenario is plausible. The answers ranged from “yes, of course,” to “no, never.” It is worth mentioning that XRP’s market cap will need to skyrocket to over $5.3 trillion if the price reaches $100.

As of the moment, the entire capitalization of the industry is approximately $3.2 trillion, making the assumption highly unlikely.