Sui (SUI), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Hedera’s HBAR led the gains in the CoinDesk 20 Index on Friday, with analysts suggesting that the current crypto rally could mark the beginning of Bitcoin’s (BTC) ascent to new all-time highs.
Bitcoin continued its impressive spring rally on Friday, maintaining a price of around $95,000 in U.S. afternoon trading, marking a 1.8% increase over the past 24 hours. Ethereum’s ether (ETH) followed closely, rising 2% to just over $1,800. Meanwhile, Sui (SUI), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Hedera’s HBAR emerged as the biggest gainers within the broader market crypto benchmark.
The day’s rally capped off a week of strong momentum for the cryptocurrency market, which has rebounded sharply from early April’s lows amidst global tariff concerns. Bitcoin has surged over 11% since Monday, making it the largest weekly gain since November 2024 when the cryptocurrency market saw a major surge following Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory.
Investor sentiment has been bolstered by a resurgence in ETF investments, with U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs recording a staggering $2.68 billion in net inflows this week, the largest inflows since December, according to data from SoSoValue. (Friday’s final inflow data will be published later.)
Bitcoin’s Decoupling from Traditional Assets
Bitcoin’s recent performance highlights its decoupling from traditional macro assets like U.S. stocks and gold, according to David Duong, Coinbase Institutional’s global head of research. Duong explained that such a divergence is rare and could signal a significant shift in market dynamics.
“It’s not often we can witness market inflection points in real-time, but this week’s decoupling may be one of those moments,” Duong wrote in a Friday report. “This separation underscores bitcoin’s emerging role as a store-of-value asset, one that is increasingly being recognized by both institutional and retail investors as resilient to the macroeconomic forces that affect other risk assets.”
Duong also noted that the trend is gaining momentum, with more companies adopting Bitcoin for corporate treasuries. Twenty One Capital, a new venture backed by Tether, Bitfinex, SoftBank, and Cantor Fitzgerald, is set to hold 42,000 BTC at its launch, mirroring Michael Saylor’s successful Bitcoin strategy.
Liquidity in the Bitcoin Market
The liquidity in the spot BTC market has been “significantly drained” due to recent accumulation, noted Dr. Kirill Kretov, lead strategist at trading automation platform CoinPanel. According to the company’s blockchain analysis, a large portion of bitcoin liquidity has been withdrawn from active addresses, including exchanges, since November 2024, leaving the market susceptible to volatile price movements.
“The market remains thin and vulnerable, easily influenced by large market players,” Kretov commented. “Sharp price fluctuations, upwards or downwards by 10%, are likely to continue in the near term.”
Bitcoin’s Path to New Records
Despite potential volatility, this week’s rally is likely just the beginning of Bitcoin’s next upward move, potentially paving the way for new record highs, said John Glover, chief investment officer at crypto lender Ledn.
Based on his technical analysis using Elliott Wave theory, Glover believes BTC is in the early stages of the final, fifth wave of its multi-year bull market. According to Elliott Wave theory, asset prices follow predictable patterns driven by collective investor psychology, typically moving in five-wave trends where the first, third, and fifth waves are impulsive rallies, and the second and fourth are corrective phases.
While Glover acknowledged that a retest of this month’s low around $75,000 could occur, he expects Bitcoin to rise to a cycle peak around late 2025 or early 2026. His price target for Bitcoin is between $133,000 and $136,000 by the end of this year or the beginning of next.
