Massive milestone in view

Bitcoin topped $98,000 earlier this morning with the Trump pump showing no signs of letting up.

On Thursday, Nov. 21, as of 7:04 a.m. (EST), per CoinGecko, the largest crypto was $97,995. Its most recent apex ($98.3K) had arrived about one hour earlier. BTC is up 40% since the election and has more than doubled so far this year.

Several coins were sporting bright-green outfits commemorating this marvel of a morning — but we couldn't take our eyes off showstopper BTC as it dances toward history. Or is $100K just some needlessly irresistible beacon luring investors in fulfillment of the forecasts? The cards do seem to be falling happily into place. Here's a scenario: the incoming administration follows through on its pledge to champion crypto and the GOP-controlled Congress goes along; taking its cue, the newly stewarded SEC adopts a light touch approach to its policework; BlackRock and Fidelity funds become wildly flush with institutional money, pushing prices skyward; the advent of options creates a trajectory support system; America ultimately amasses a national stockpile of crypto; Elon Musk colonizes Mars and Dogecoin becomes legal tender across the galaxy. So tell us, what are we missing?

"BTC's firmly into overbought territory," said IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore (Reuters).

Raindrops finally arrived on the parched East Coast. Very few cryptos fell, meanwhile. Even Sui (SUI), which had been in the red earlier this morning, is back on the verge of pure flatness over 24 hours.

The Sui network did experience two hours of unwanted down time owing to a software glitch. But that situation was resolved by about 7 a.m. (EST). When the scheduling hiccup happened in the pre-dawn hours, SUI, 17th-largest coin, tanked by 7% or so, from $3.57 to $3.36. It since recovered to above $3.60 as of 8 a.m. (EST).

SUI's all-time high of $3.92 came this past Sunday. The native asset of the layer-1 chain dubbed a "Solana killer" is in the midst of a murderous 30-day stretch in which its spot price has nearly doubled. SUI only days ago seemed destined to push past $4, considering its fresh ATH mojo, the current bullish conditions generally washing over the market, plus the network's claim to record-breaking total value locked (TVL) as well as acclaim from Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Cardano. "Sui has some real innovations," the friendly rival recently conceded.

Which takes us to a cursory check of Cardano's native ADA. And while it remains part of a group of big-cap coins (with market-caps north of $25B) that we've dubbed the Big Ten, ADA has declined 3.4% in 24 hours to reach roughly eighty cents. That makes it today's worst-performer in that elite cadre of the ten-largest tokens as measured by CoinGecko. ADA, however, has more than doubled in the past 30 days. ADA's ATH, above $3, came in September of 2021.

Meanwhile, recalling our beloved childhood pet, a poodle named Bert, we instinctively took a shine to a Solana-bred micro-cap memecoin, Bertram the Pomeranian (BERT), an obscure token which only came on the Top 1,000 scene less than a fortnight ago. Yet it quickly scampered to nearly 20 cents and a market cap near $100M.

Alas, BERT is today's worst-performer, down 40% in 24 hours, per CoinGecko.

Bitcoin as of 8:33 a.m. (EST) was on the verge of dipping below $98K after a one-hour loss of 0.6%. Yes, we're watching it that closely, like the mesmerized meteorologist in "The Perfect Storm." At 8:57 a.m. (EST), BTC had bobbed back up to $97,600. Whew!

As the $100K milestone captivates investors, drawing them into the cyclone, a mighty wind feeds on itself in a virtuous fashion. The trend gains strength and speed, price levels grow higher, headlines blare ever-louder until enthusiasm crescendos. Binding spells at some point do start to wear off. But do take heed of a foundational argument in place to counter any worst-case fears about cycles turning vicious. 

BTC fundamentally can boast of scarcity. This helps explain its growth as an asset class often mentioned in the same breath as precious metals except while behaving like a mega-cap tech stock.

"The launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs was already a landmark event for the financial world," Cointelegraph pointed out.

Indeed, BlackRock’s and Fidelity’s offerings each attracted $3B in their first month, setting records for ETF launches. But that was only the start of the virtuous cycle.

"The true catalyst is the introduction [this week] of options trading on these ETFs which could significantly increase liquidity in the market," Cointelegraph added.