Bitcoin’s muted price actions during the weekend continued in the past 24 hours as the asset calmed following the explosive rally observed from Wednesday to Friday.

In the meantime, many altcoins have extended their gains, with XLM, HBAR, and BONK emerging as today’s top performers.

BTC Stalls at $118K

Recall that bitcoin’s price volatility had largely disappeared since the start of the month, as the asset was confined within a relatively tight range between $105,000 and $110,000. Following a few unsuccessful attempts for a breakout, though, came Wednesday evening when the bulls took full control of the market.

During the first wave north, they pushed the cryptocurrency beyond $110,000 and all the way up to $112,000, which set a new all-time high. While bitcoin retraced slightly on the next day, its rally couldn’t be contained yet, and it shot up to $116,000 on Thursday.

Friday saw another impressive leg up that drove the primary digital asset ot almost $119,000, which became its latest all-time high. This meant that BTC had added over ten grand in less than 48 hours to set a new record. You can check some of the possible reasons behind this mindblowing surge here.

Saturday saw little to no action, even though Trump slapped the EU and Mexico with 30% tariffs and warned there would be more if they responded.

BTC slipped slightly to $117,500 but has managed to recover the losses and is back to $118,000 as of press time now. Its market cap remains close to $2.350 trillion, making bitcoin the sixth-largest global asset.

These Alts Keep Rocking

Most altcoins have stalled similar to BTC over the past day or so, but XLM and HBAR stand in a league of their own. The former has added another 17.5% in the past day, extending its weekly gains to over 85%.

HBAR has surged by nearly 15% daily and almost 50% weekly, which has pushed its price well beyond $0.22. BONK completes the double-digit price pump club, with a 12% surge of its own.

Other big gainers from the larger-cap alts include ALGO, IMX, and MNT, but their increases are noticeably smaller.

The cumulative market cap of all crypto assets has gained around $20 billion overnight and is up to $3.760 trillion on CG.

Bitcoin’s price revival at the end of the business week caught many short traders off guard as the asset skyrocketed to a new all-time high of almost $119,000 following an extended period of muted movements.

Although there was not one single big announcement that could have been related to the explosive rally, there are several reasons that were building up for weeks, which could be attributed to the new peak.

Overall Accumulation

The following reasons will be combined into one category of “overall accumulation,” even though they may vary by investor type, different moments of purchases, etc. We will start with the ETFs as they’re the freshest. As reported yesterday, the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US attracted more than $2.7 billion within the past five trading days alone.

In addition, they have seen only one day in net outflows since June 9. Both of these factors can drive the underlying asset’s price north, especially when investors spend more than $2 billion to accumulate ETF shares in two consecutive days (July 10 and 11).

Next, we will list the accumulation by large companies. Strategy, which admittedly failed to announce a purchase last week, has spent billions in the past few months to acquire more BTC. Its example has been followed to a smaller extent by other companies that now hold bitcoin as a reserve asset, such as Metaplanet, GameStop, and Semler Scientific.

Although these purchases might not impact the asset’s price immediately, their continuous efforts certainly play a role as they reduce the immediate selling pressure.

The accumulation trend expands well beyond institutions and large companies. Glassnode reported recently that smaller investors, categorized as shrimps, crabs, and fish (wallets holding less than 100 BTC), have been acquiring more than 19,000 BTC per month. In comparison, miner issuance stands at just 13,400 BTC per month.

Looking at accumulation by wallet size: Shrimps, Crabs, and Fish – wallets with <100 $BTC – are accumulating ~19.3k BTC/month, while miner issuance stands at 13.4k BTC/month.
Persistent net absorption across a wide base of holders is creating measurable supply-side tightening. pic.twitter.com/ajut5hlpqv

— glassnode (@glassnode) July 12, 2025

The aforementioned purchases from various types of investors, most of whom are transferring their BTC holdings out of exchanges, lead us to the next reason (yes, they are related). According to CryptoQuant, the amount of BTC stored on trading platforms has declined to the lowest level in a decade, another signal that investors are looking for the long term.

Macroeconomic Reasons

The reasons above paint a clear picture that investors are accumulating. Now, let’s get down to why they might be doing so.

Although Trump bombarded numerous nations and entire Unions with new sets of tariffs in the past few weeks, including on Saturday, the effect is nowhere near as devastating to BTC as it was back in April. At the time, bitcoin’s price collapsed to a five-month low, while now, the tariffs are somehow considered beneficial for the cryptocurrency.

As analysts from QCP put it:

“Will Trump delay implementation once again? That remains to be seen. But repeated cycles of tariff threats and postponements have contributed to positive uncertainty. Business sentiment and manufacturing indices have remained firmly in expansion territory.”

BREAKING: President Trump sends out more “tariff letters” with the following tariff rates now announced:

1. Brazil: 50%
2. Myanmar: 40%
3. Laos: 40%
4. Cambodia: 36%
5. Thailand: 36%
6. Bangladesh: 35%
7. Canada: 35%
8. Serbia: 35%
9. Indonesia: 32%
10. European Union: 30%
11.…

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 12, 2025

In the meantime, we will conclude our reasoning with the declining US dollar index. Experts have long predicted a massive parabolic move for BTC once the greenback loses traction. This is because investors tend to jump into store-of-value assets, such as gold and bitcoin, in times when the dollar is weak.

Nicolai Sondergaard, Research Analyst at Nansen, told CryptoPotato that although he didn’t believe this rally was mostly driven by macro events, he thinks certain US policies have attributed to it.

“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.”

Will BTC Keep Surging?

The big question now is whether these reasons will continue to push the cryptocurrency higher. In a memo to CryptoPotato, analysts from Bitfinex seemed optimistic.

“Unless ETF inflows collapse or macro takes a sharp turn, the structure remains intact. Bitcoin has flipped $111k–$114k into support, and as long as that holds, the trend is higher. For traders, the message is simple: respect the flows, watch for funding dislocations, and stay tactical around round-number resistance levels for Bitcoin.”

Nevertheless, they warned that “no rally goes up in a straight line.” The analysts added that BTC could be due for a correction first, as they have already started to “see some signs of temporary exhaustion.”

Nansen’s Sondergaard also weighed in on whether bitcoin has the strength to keep marching forward:

“Bitcoin recently broke through key liquidation levels and managed to hold above them, which I believe signaled there was more room for upside.

On the technical side, Bitcoin’s daily RSI has climbed above 70, which is typical in strong momentum phases. It’s not inherently bearish; RSI rising during price rallies is normal. However, if price continues to rise while RSI starts to diverge or decline, that could be an early signal of fading momentum and the potential for a correction.”

TL;DR

• Following weeks of consolidation and price warnings from the community, Cardano’s native token exploded in the past several days, registering a 30% weekly surge.
• A popular crypto analyst with almost 140,000 followers on X believes this could be just the beginning and envisioned a further surge to and beyond $1 if ADA breaks through a key resistance level, which is being tested now.

Cardano $ADA is breaking through a key resistance level, opening the door for a rally to $0.90–$1.20! pic.twitter.com/4dj8jQfJFN

— Ali (@ali_charts) July 13, 2025

This important resistance that could hinder ADA’s progress is situated somewhere around $0.74, a level the asset is very familiar with, as it managed to contain its price ascent earlier this year.

ADA managed to breach it briefly during the Friday price surge that drove it to a two-and-a-half-month high of almost $0.78, but the bears quickly regrouped and didn’t allow a decisive closure above it.

In fact, the last time Cardano’s token traded sustainably above $0.74 was in mid-May. Since then, the asset underwent a substantial correction that drove it down to $0.5 at one point.

Nevertheless, ADA is still the top performer on a weekly scale from the 12 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, having gained almost 30%. Thus, it has increased more than XRP (26%) and HYPE (22%).

This impressive price surge comes just a few weeks after IOG proposed that the treasury would trade $100 million worth of ADA for BTC and stablecoins to enhance the blockchain’s DeFi ecosystem. The move met immediate resistance from some members, who claimed that it could lead to a more painful sell-off and price declines.

Charles Hoskinson was quick to mock the naysayers after ADA surged past $0.7 and became a top performer.

Remember when we were told that a 100 million dollar trade of ada would collapse the price? https://t.co/kYm5CKw97O pic.twitter.com/tPZiROv37i

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) July 11, 2025