Pre-Christmas Rally Brings Bitcoin to USD 24K, Litecoin Outshines Again

After cooling down for a couple of days, the most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), accelerated its pre-Christmas rally and for the first time in its history hit the USD 24,000 level. As is usual this week, the top cryptoasset was outperformed by its smaller peers.

At pixel time (17:16 UTC), BTC trades at USD 24,049 and is up by almost 6% in a day and 31% in a week. The price rallied by 33% in a month and 234% in a year.

BTC price chart:

BTC is now the second-best performer in the past seven days among the top 10 coins. Litecoin (LTC) rallied today by 12%, to USD 119%, and is now up by 58% in a week. And while it also outperformed BTC in the past month (+46%), it grew less in the past 12 months (194%). Moreover, the LTC 24-hour trading volume surpassed “only” USD 4bn, compared with BTC’s almost USD 27bn.

Other coins from the top 10 club are up by 2%-10% today.

As reported, Philip Gradwell, the Chief Economist at blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, said on Thursday that he expects to see “significant swings in the price over the next few days as the market tries to find a balance between demand and supply.”

“In 2020, bitcoin has matured as a financial asset that is well suited to our current macro environment and due to this large investors have purchased millions of bitcoin, significantly reducing the remaining supply available to buy,” he added.

Meanwhile, also as reported, Brian Armstrong, CEO of the Coinbase exchange, warned investors who may be focusing on short-term speculation and encourage customers to seek out resources and consult financial advisors to better understand the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies.

“For those who believe in the potential of crypto, we also all have to believe that we’re still in the very early stages and that there’s a lot more to come,” he said.
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Learn more:
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