The price of Bitcoin (BTC) hit a new all-time high above $40,000 on Jan. 7 after the price increased by more than $5,000 in less than 24-hours.
The $40,000 barrier marks a significant milestone for the top-ranked cryptocurrency. According to Matt Blom, head of global sales trading at EQUOS:
“Bitcoin's march to $40k has been driven by fresh capital from huge hedge funds, corporate treasuries and awareness from the investing public that all is not well in the world of fiat. It’s easy to forget that we are still in the very early stages of adoption."
Blom added that instead of trying to "pick the top," investors should just "enjoy the ride."
Shortly after Bitcoin surpassed $40,400, it ran into significant selling pressure that saw its price dip back as low as $36,600 before buyers came back in to take advantage of the quick dip in price.
Bitcoin’s 24-hour volume has reached a new all-time high of $82.4 billion, and a number of top cryptocurrency exchanges experienced outages and connectivity issues.
Stocks and altcoins move higher
Traditional markets also saw positive trading as the results of the United States presidential election now appear to be finalized with Democrats controlling the presidency and both houses of Congress.
The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ 100 are all higher on the day, up 1.42%, 0.71% and 2.37%, respectively. The 10-year government bond has also firmly risen back above the 1% mark, trading at $1.076 at the time of writing.
Bitcoin’s surge above $40,000 increased its dominance rate to 69.1%, but this did not negatively impact altcoin prices. Notable movers of the day included XRP, which has rallied 38.59% to $0.35 over the past 24 hours.
Ether (ETH) price also continued to soar higher, setting a new 2020 high at $1,282 as the largest altcoin pursues its $1,400 all-time high.
Other notable performers over the past 24-hours include Nano and Yearn.finance's YFI, which have seen increases of 77.33% and 20.93%, respectively.
While many analysts continue to call for new daily all-time highs from Bitcoin, crypto trader Scott Melker advised caution, and in private comments to Cointelegraph Melker said:
“Beyond being a psychological level and a round number, I don't view 40K as particularly significant. From a technical perspective, there is no resistance ahead - just blue skies because Bitcoin is in parabolic price discovery. The expectation would certainly be that a major correction will eventually come, but it is a fool’s errand to try to time it or to assume that an arbitrary number like 40K will be the top.”