Bitcoin hit its highest level since early December
Bitcoin, the bellwether cryptocurrency, touched an intraday high of $51,386 at 7:49 p.m. on the Bitstamp exchange. It is up over 5% on the day.
The king of crypto has now hit its highest level since December 7, recovering 22% of its local low of around $ 42,000.
Virtually all of the top 100 largest cryptocurrencies are in the green, with SushiSwap (SUSHI) leading the market recovery 23.74% and the decentralized finance sector outperforming the rest of the market. Aave (AAVE), Compound (COMP) and Uniswap (UNI) have posted double-digit gains as well.
A gathering of Santa Claus could be on the cards
Cryptocurrency traders are hoping that a so-called ‘Santa’s rally’, a notable calendar effect, could push up the price of Bitcoin by the end of the year.
The term was coined by U.S. stock market traders in the 1972 Stock Trader’s Almanac. Over the past 92 years, the benchmark S&P 500 has recorded a 77% win rate during a 9-day trading period that includes the final trading session of the year and two trading sessions in January.
Historically, Bitcoin has underperformed the US stock market during the aforementioned 9-day period, which is why the probability of a Santa Claus rally is much lower for stocks than for Bitcoin. However, if the flagship cryptocurrency continues its strong rally, this year could be an outlier.
As reported by U.Today, Mike Novogratz said that he wouldn’t expect Bitcoin to surge higher in the first quarter of 2022 due to bearish sentiment in the stock market.
Bitcoin would need to gain another 11% in the remaining seven days to end December in the green.
