Bitcoin Leads Crypto Majors' Gains; Analysts Bullish on SOL After 30% Weekly Jump

A bitcoin [BTC] pump led crypto market gains as a ticker registration boosted optimism of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the U.S., spurring bullish bets.

The price surged briefly above $35,000 early Tuesday before retreating. The move was likely led by demand ahead of a possible ETF approval, coupled with $178 million in short liquidations – which may have added to buying pressure as traders covered losing positions with bitcoin purchases.

Total market capitalization rose 8% to reach levels not seen since mid-August. Bitcoin dominance – a ratio of the token’s capitalization compared with the rest of the market – crossed 50%, suggesting general demand for the sector.

Ethereum gas fees spiked 400%, indicative of riskier on-chain token trading gaining traction among traders, with lesser-known HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu (which trades with a BITCOIN ticker) and SPX$1.0045 tokens surging as much as 40%.

Meanwhile, gains in tokens of layer 1 blockchains Solana [SOL] and Aptos [APT] seemed to slow after a nearly 30% rally over the past week, ending concerns of a supply overhang leading to sell-offs across both tokens. A bullish outlook for the tokens remains intact among some traders.

“Both projects are excellent representatives of the current Layer-1 public chains,” James Wo, founder and CEO of crypto fund DFG, said in a message to CoinDesk. "Aptos is a representative of an emerging public chain with advanced underlying technology and a strong mass base, while Solana has a successful commercialization operation, has accumulated a rich ecosystem and a large number of users, and has long been undervalued due to its connection to the FTX collapse.”

“As time passes and it becomes clearer that FTX's assets are frozen, the positive news in the sector is having an increasing impact on SOL,” Wo said.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX was an early investor in Solana and regularly receives a significant volume of SOL unlocked according to a planned vesting schedule. It held over $1.16 billion worth of the tokens as of September, according to a court filing.

However, the FTX bankruptcy estate recently staked 5.5 million SOL, worth $122 million at the time, earlier this month, quelling bearish concerns.

MINA spiked as much as 70%, seemingly as Upbit, South Korean largest crypto exchange, listed the tokens. Upbit surpassed centralized exchanges Coinbase and OKX in terms of trading volume for the first time in July, according to a report by CCData.

UPDATE (Oct. 24, 10:07 UTC): Adds MINA token in last paragraph, full names of BITCOIN and SPX tokens in fourth.