Bitcoin Surges Past $81,000 Amid Weekend Rally and Bullish Futures Activity

Bitcoin has crossed the $81,000 mark. This surge comes from a steady rally, high trading volumes over the weekend, and bullish activity in the futures market. Traders are betting on further price increases.

In fact, Bitcoin (BTC) jumped above $81,000 late Sunday, continuing a record-setting rally for the sixth day in a row. This growth is boosting all major and midcap tokens. BTC gained 5.6% in the last 24 hours, with trading volumes nearing $100 billion during a particularly wild weekend.

Weekend price increases in the crypto market are often seen as a positive sign. Typically, trading volumes drop over the weekend when many institutional investors and professional traders are less active.

Futures premiums on Bitcoin-related products are rising, indicating a strong preference for bullish bets. The popularity of the $80,000 call option on Deribit suggests that traders are hedging around this key level.

Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) have led the gains among major cryptocurrencies, with prices jumping as much as 30%. DOGE even flipped XRP and stablecoin USDC to become the sixth-largest token. This surge is largely due to renewed support from tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, pushing DOGE up 88% over the past 30 days.

Other major cryptocurrencies took a breather after a Friday rally. Ether (ETH), BNB Chain’s BNB, and XRP saw gains of less than 4%. Meanwhile, Cardano’s ADA experienced profit-taking after a significant 35% rise on Sunday.

The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), which tracks the largest tokens by market capitalization, rose by 4.5% in the past 24 hours.

Outside the major tokens, dog-themed memecoins led the way with an average increase of 30%, according to CoinGecko data. Solana-based memes and TokenFi launchpad tokens followed closely behind.

This weekend's price action followed a week that saw crypto-friendly Republican Donald Trump elected as U.S. president, along with a fresh round of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. recorded over $1.3 billion in net inflows on Thursday. This breaks the previous March record of $1.1 billion, primarily led by BlackRock’s IBIT.

Traders are now eyeing the $100,000 price level for BTC in the short term. Many hope that Trump will launch a strategic bitcoin reserve after taking office in January, as he promised during his campaign in July.