Bitcoin Hits Another Milestone, Topping $77K for First Time; Funding Rates Suggest Crypto Rally Can Keep Going

Cryptocurrency price milestones continue to topple in the aftermath of Donald Trump's election victory, as bitcoin BTC$102,234.03 on Friday surpassed $77,000 for the first time and some laggard altcoins joined the rally following the Federal Reserve's rate cut.

The largest and oldest crypto eked out a new record price of $77,105 during U.S. trading hours, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Index (XBX), though it's only eked out a 0.2% gain over the past 24 hours. The broad market CoinDesk 20 Index outperformed, with the native tokens of Cardano ADA$0.5628 and Polygon (POL) surging 15%.

Ethereum's ether ETH$3,456.44 advanced 3% to just shy of $3,000, its strongest price in more than three months, as the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector gains steam. DeFi stands to gain the most from more accommodating digital asset regulations in the U.S. that crypto market participants hope for from a new administration led by Trump. Solana SOL$154.73, a layer-1 blockchain network considered the main contender for Ethereum's DeFi dominance, topped $200 for the first time since April.

Read more: Coinbase Brings Bitcoin to Solana, Spurring High Hopes for DeFi Surge

A look at traditional markets shows the S&P 500 crossing the 6,000 mark for the first time ever amid upbeat equities markets following Trump's decisive win in the U.S. presidential election.

While crypto assets booked double-digit gains during this week, with BTC sitting at record highs, funding rates for perpetual swaps on crypto exchanges are much closer to neutral levels than the market top in early March, CoinGlass data shows. Funding rate refers to the amount long traders pay shorts to take the opposite side of a trade. When funding rates are negative, shorts pay the fee to longs, as this relationship often occurs during bearish periods.

"Zero signs of market froth in funding rates," noted Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat.

The muted frothiness suggests that crypto prices have much more room to advance higher, with one market participant seeing bitcoin getting as high as $125,000.

"We're in the 7th inning of [the] bull market," or at the beginning of the final third of the rally, Ari Paul, founder and CIO of digital asset investment firm BlockTower, said in an X post.

He said recent buyers appear to be positioning for a six- to 12-month rally, driven mostly by institutional investors rather than retail, suggesting a more gradual climb to his targets. Retail interest will increase along with leverage as the rally progresses. He recommended buying and holding a few select crypto assets as a strategy over the coming months, arguing that more active trading will likely be more profitable at the final stages of the bull run.

"This phase, the 7th inning, takes us to $90K-$125K," Paul said. "Then we have 2 more innings left and the last are usually the most parabolic."