After a turbulent week marked by sharp swings, Bitcoin price gradually edged past the $90K level during the late Asian trading hours on Monday.
The total crypto market capitalisation stood at approximately $3.12 trillion at press time, reflecting a 2% rise.
While sentiment remained firmly in fear territory, it managed to recover slightly, climbing 5 points from the previous day to reach 25.
In line with the modest recovery, many of the top 99 altcoins were also trading in the green during the latter half of the day, while the top gainers notched double-digit gains.
Why is Bitcoin price up today?
Bitcoin reclaimed the $90K mark after nearly two weeks, aided by a softening dollar index and strength in Asian equity markets.
Bitcoin, often labelled as digital gold, rallied alongside Gold today, in response to rising expectations that the US Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in 2026.
The Fed has already delivered three back-to-back 25 basis point rate cuts in September, October, and December, bringing its benchmark rate down to a target range of 3.50% to 3.75%.
Investors are growing more confident that further cuts could arrive as soon as the January meeting, especially with signs of a weakening labour market and inflation easing to 2.7% in November.
At the same time, gains in major tech names like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics helped calm investor fears of a tech-driven bubble, with both companies rallying on Monday.
Adding to the macro backdrop, Hong Kong’s insurance regulator proposed new rules that would allow insurers to invest in assets such as cryptocurrencies and infrastructure.
The initiative is designed to steer institutional capital toward sectors prioritised by the government.
While it is still early, such regulatory moves are often interpreted by markets as supportive of long-term crypto adoption, especially when they come from major financial hubs.
Interestingly, Bitcoin bulls also appeared to buy into the Bank of Japan’s rate hike decision.
As widely expected, the BoJ raised its benchmark rate by 0.25%, bringing it to the highest level seen in three decades.
While traditionally such moves are bearish for risk assets, this particular hike was fully priced in, with Polymarket data showing 99% odds of it occurring.
The Nikkei 225 jumped by over 1%, and the Japanese yen weakened, creating favourable conditions for global risk sentiment.
As a result, assets that had dipped ahead of the announcement have started to rebound.
Against this backdrop, talk of a potential Santa Claus rally has resurfaced across markets.
In crypto, this refers to a period of gains in Bitcoin and other digital assets just ahead of the holiday.
Although not guaranteed, traders are latching on to the narrative, particularly after recent dips to monthly lows triggered a fresh round of dip buying across both spot and derivatives markets.
A key indicator supporting the price bounce is the continued rise in crypto futures open interest.
Total futures interest jumped by 60 basis points on Monday to over $130 billion. Bitcoin’s share rose to $60 billion, while Ethereum climbed to more than $38 billion.
Rising open interest signals that traders, particularly bulls, are beginning to reintroduce leverage, potentially adding fuel to the recent momentum.
At the same time, short positions have come under pressure. Data showed that short liquidations surged by 146% to $200 million, indicating that many bearish bets were caught offside by the price recovery.
The resulting squeeze may have contributed to the sharp push higher. However, a more durable rally would still depend on whether institutional inflows return.
Last week marked the first net outflow from digital asset investment products in four weeks, with nearly $952 million withdrawn, according to CoinShares.
The current dip in institutional investment signals that the confidence of major investors is still fragile, even in the face of a possible market recovery.
Will Bitcoin price go up?
According to crypto analyst Captain Faibik, after consolidating between $82,000 and $95,000 since November 22nd, Bitcoin’s price seemed ready to break out from a bullish megaphone pattern.
“Longer the consolidation, stronger and bigger the rally that follows,” the analyst noted while sharing the chart below:
Based on this pattern, Captain Faibik projected a rally towards $120k, if confirmed.
Meanwhile, fellow analyst AlphaBTC highlighted the seasonal “Santa Claus rally” narrative, which has re-entered market discussion.
From a technical perspective, bulls are likely to first focus on reclaiming the yearly open near $93,300.
A sustained move above that level could then shift attention toward the next major resistance band in the $98,000 to $100,000 range.
Meanwhile, fellow market pundit Ted Pillows noted that BTC may have formed a bottom following the recent dip, as a 3D bullish divergence is now confirmed.
Based on past trends, every time Bitcoin has formed similar bottoms (as seen twice previously this year), the price has rebounded higher.
At press time, one Bitcoin was trading slightly below the $90,000 mark, up over 2% in the past 24 hours.
For a bullish scenario to play out, bulls must decisively reclaim the $90k mark.
Top altcoin gainers for the day
In the past 24 hours, the altcoin market cap rose 6% to $1.42 trillion.
Ethereum (ETH), the leading altcoin by market cap, rallied from $2,960 to as high as $3,060 before dropping a little to $3,030 as of press time and holding gains of around 2.5% over the day.
Other large-cap altcoins that followed, such as BNB (BNB), XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Cardano (ADA), recorded gains ranging between 2-4% respectively.
Nearly all of the top 100 cryptocurrencies were trading in the green by late Asian trading hours on Monday.
The pack was led by Audiera (BEAT), which clocked double-digit gains of nearly 52% as the protocol continued to burn more tokens and tighten supply.
MYX Finance (MYX) and Curve DAO Token (CRV) also rallied 15.8% and 10%, respectively, in tandem with the broader crypto market amid renewed buying interest following recent dips in their prices.
Source: CoinMarketCap
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