Bitcoin Just Traded a Record-Smashing $99 Billion in One Day

Bitcoin’s daily trading volume hit an all-time high, just as Bitcoin’s price hit its own all-time high.

In brief

• Bitcoin's daily trading volumes are through the roof.
• They hit $99 billion, an all-time high, today.
• Only Tether, the US dollar-pegged stablecoin, has surpassed it in terms of daily trading volume.

Bitcoin today hit $99 billion in trading volume, an all-time high, according to metrics site CoinMarketCap.

Traders shook hands on $99.3 billion worth of Bitcoin deals in the past 24 hours, the site records. The all-time high in daily trading volume coincided with yet another all-time high for Bitcoin’s price, which this afternoon peaked at $41,941.

Yesterday’s trading pumped the price by $3,000, from $38,250 to more than $3,500 more the next day. Bitcoin’s current price is $40,540 and its daily trading volume has since dipped to $92.7 million. 

The daily trading volume for Bitcoin has doubled since its previous all-time high, noted “Thought leader and Influencer” Dr. Efi Pylarinou. Dr. Pylarinou tweeted, “Seems that Retails is back since the 2018 shakeout.” 

Bitcoin’s daily trading volume is currently double that of Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Investors traded $46 billion of Ethereum in the past 24 hours, data from CoinMarketCap shows. 

But Bitcoin lags far behind US dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether, which traded $140 billion in the past 24 hours. This is because Tether functions as the reserve currency of the crypto market. 

Traders rely on Tether’s (more or less) stable peg to the US dollar when speculating on volatile cryptocurrencies. Tether’s high liquidity also makes it easy to place quick trades and its peg to the US dollar saves on head-scratching about FX rates. 

The company, however, is under investigation by the New York Attorney General over the misappropriation of customer funds; it no longer maintains its promise of being 1-1 backed by deposits of the US dollar. Critics of Tether think that its problems could end Bitcoin’s bull run.