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Bitcoin Hits 3.5-Month High Over $50K as Ether Tops $4K
Cryptocurrency markets are heating up.
Updated May 11, 2023, 6:45 p.m. Published Sep 3, 2021, 1:46 p.m.
Cryptocurrency markets were buoyed by a fresh wave of bullishness Friday, as bitcoin rose for a fourth straight day to a three and a half-month high of over $50,000 and ether , the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, pushed past a key psychological level of $4,000.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, appeared to get fresh impetus from a report Friday showing lackluster U.S. jobs growth during August. The report fueled speculation that soft economic data might prompt the Federal Reserve to maintain its program of buying $120 billion a month in bonds longer than previously expected.
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Some investors speculate that the U.S. central bank’s accommodative monetary policies will suppress returns on traditional market assets like bonds, strengthening the appeal of bitcoin and other fast-rising cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin climbed to as high as $50,940 on Friday and was changing hands at around $50,700 at press time. That’s the highest price since May, though it is still well off the all-time high of near $65,000 that was reached in April.
Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose 4.9% on Friday, pushing past $4,000 for the first time since May. The price climbed as high as $4,025 before slipping back to $3,960 as of press time.
The resurgence in non-fungible token (NFT) activity and interest in yield-generating decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens have also contributed to ETH’s price rally.
Ether has vastly outperformed bitcoin this year, rising fivefold in price and pushing its market capitalization to about $465 billion. That’s close to half of bitcoin’s market cap of $950 billion.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Dogecoin pops 4% amid memecoin rally as a short-term golden cross flashes
Technical indicators suggest Dogecoin's rally is supported by strong volume, but it must maintain key support levels to continue upward momentum.
What to know:
- Dogecoin surged to $0.1516, driven by high trading volume and renewed interest in meme coins.
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