Bitcoin (BTC) surged past $76,000 on Friday, November 8, reaching an all-time high as political certainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election provided a boost to the cryptocurrency.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $75,959, marking a 5.3% increase within 24 hours and bringing its market capitalization to $1.5 trillion.
Notably, the surge in Bitcoin’s price is largely attributed to the results from the U.S. election, which saw Donald Trump lead over his opponent Kamala Harris.
This political backdrop has injected fresh momentum into Bitcoin, with investors increasingly viewing it as a hedge against the uncertainty surrounding the election. Analysts at Santiment highlighted the overnight surge in Bitcoin’s market value, noting that “comments from across social media suggesting the price surge is linked to Trump’s early lead. The sentiment surrounding BTC is overwhelmingly positive, with 5.5 positive comments for every negative one.”
Furthermore, they noted that this heightened enthusiasm signals a clear case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) driving the market, with the potential for major volatility and sentiment-driven price fluctuations in the lead-up to, and possibly beyond, the election’s resolution.
Meawnhile, the broader cryptocurrency market has also benefitted from this sentiment, with other top cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana (SOL) seeing substantial gains of roughly 24% and 15%, respectively.
The overall digital asset market reached a total capitalization of $2.6 trillion, with Bitcoin maintaining a dominant position, holding 60.8% of the market share. The sharp upward movement of Bitcoin has also led to a high level of price volatility, with nearly $495 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, of which a significant portion, $363 million, was from long positions as per data from Coinglass.
Bitcoin’s rise follows a series of gains in recent weeks, including a brief surge to over $72,000 at the end of October. However, it took a brief correction before its current rally.
Notably, experts are forecasting further price action. Earlier this week, Bernstein analysts projected that a Trump victory could send Bitcoin to between $80,000 and $90,000 by Inauguration Day in January 2025. Conversely, they noted that a win for Harris could lead to a steep correction, potentially driving Bitcoin’s price down to around $50,000.