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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is back. The token held near $86,000 on Tuesday after a stunning multisession rally as investors went risk-on amid falling oil prices.
The surge has analysts pointing to the end of the cyclical "crypto winter."
"The BTC breakout is credible," Fundstrat head of digital assets Sean Farrell told Yahoo Finance on Monday. "I think the crypto winter is over, although that does not necessarily mean the path higher will be linear."
For now, momentum is on crypto's side, with bitcoin jumping more than 5% on Friday and another 6% on Monday.
"We believe crypto is in the early innings of a new bull market and we see few signs of overheating," Compass Point analyst Ed Engel wrote on Tuesday.
The move looks "like a combination of renewed ETF demand and a large short squeeze," Nicolai Søndergaard, senior research analyst at Nansen, said as traders betting against bitcoin are forced to buy it back, adding further fuel to the rally.
The token has recently broken solidly above its 50-day moving average, as seen below on Yahoo Finance's AlphaSpace chart. Strategists see it as confirmation that the move is more than a bear-market relief rally.
Altcoins also surged after the Securities and Exchange Commission granted a five-year exemption last week for trading in certain tokenized stocks, boosting optimism about blockchain-based markets and tokens such as ether (ETH-USD) and solana (SOL-USD).
The move came after the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act, a bill that would have established a regulatory framework for digital assets.
On Monday, the cryptocurrency market's total capitalization stood at $2.94 trillion, about 30% below its record valuation in October, when bitcoin reached an all-time high of more than $125,000.
Crypto's latest surge extends its August rally, when bitcoin gained roughly 25% on the heels of Treasury moves to buy back bonds and support the Japanese yen — moves Wall Street interpreted as an effort to bring down Treasury yields.7
Higher yields increase borrowing costs, making it more expensive for the government to service its debt and for businesses and households to borrow.
The gains have continued even after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, with markets pricing in a 56% chance of another hike this year.
