After days and days of sideways trading around $42,000, Bitcoin started the new year with a bang and skyrocketed to nearly $46,000 for the first time since April 2022.

Many altcoins have come along the ride, with SOL and AVAX soaring by double digits and the total crypto market cap gaining approximately $100 billion overnight.

BTC Goes High

After a strong last quarter of 2023, BTC had calmed during the holidays and remained in a tight range between $42,000 and $43,000 for a week or so. Moreover, the asset slipped below the support line on a few occasions but managed to maintain its positive year ultimately.

Yet, it all changed on Monday evening. After sitting quietly at around $42,500, the cryptocurrency initiated a leg-up that resulted in a surge to $44,000. Tuesday morning brought even more joy for the bulls as BTC soared to and past $45,000 for the first time in nearly two years, leaving millions of short positions liquidated.

Just hours ago, the asset charted its local peak at $45,900 (on Bitstamp), and the community has prepared for a charge of $46,000 and beyond. Recall that CryptoPotato outlined three reasons why 2024 could be an even better year for Bitcoin.

This resulted in a massive growth for BTC’s market cap, which is now close to $900 billion on CMC. Bitcoin’s dominance over the alts has also increased to 50.9%.

BTCUSD. Source: TradingView SOL, AVAX See Double-Digit Gains

Although most altcoins have turned green today, many have been outperformed by BTC. These include ETH (6%), BNB (2.5%), XRP (2.4%), ADA (5%), DOGE (5%), DOT (6%), and MATIC (5%).

Nevertheless, there are also those that have charted more impressive gains than the largest digital asset. Such is the case with Solana and Avalanche. SOL has resumed its recent bull run and has soared by 13% to $115. AVAX is up by 11% and trades well above $40.

With most other altcoins charting notable gains over the past day, it’s no wonder that the total crypto market cap has seen a peak of its own at $1.770 trillion on CMC. That means the metric has added approximately $100 billion in a day.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: Quantify Crypto

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