Bitcoin Far From Peaking, Experts Claim, Despite Price Consolidation at $120K

Crypto Market Cools After Sharp Gains, But Analysts Say Bitcoin Rally Has Room to Run

XRP, SUI, and UNI led gains on Monday as the broader crypto market paused to digest its sharp run-up over recent days.

Bitcoin briefly approached $123,000 during early trading but pulled back during U.S. market hours, slipping below $120,000 and giving back most of its overnight momentum. Despite the pullback, BTC still managed a 0.6% gain over the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s ether dipped below $3,000, and other major altcoins like dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), and Stellar (XLM) fell roughly 2% to 3%.

However, some coins outperformed. XRP rose 2.5%, SUI jumped 10%, and Uniswap’s UNI gained 6% on the day.

Crypto-linked stocks also saw mixed moves. MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) held onto gains of around 3%-4%, while Coinbase (COIN) added 1.5%.

Bitcoin’s recent surge—over 10% in under a week—has prompted speculation that a consolidation phase could follow, as traders lock in profits. Yet analysts say there’s little evidence that the current rally is nearing a top.

Jeff Dorman, CIO at digital asset investment firm Arca, noted that prior market peaks—like those driven by March 2024’s spot bitcoin ETF enthusiasm and the late-2024 surge tied to Trump’s election—saw altcoin derivatives open interest exceed that of bitcoin, signaling overheated markets.

“We’re nowhere near that point right now,” Dorman said in a note to investors on Monday.

He added that while trading volumes on both centralized and decentralized exchanges rose 23% week over week, they remain far below levels seen during past market-wide booms.

From a broader perspective, Bitcoin’s momentum continues to be fueled by concerns about mounting sovereign debt and investors seeking protection against inflation, said Eric Demuth, CEO of European crypto exchange Bitpanda.

Demuth suggested that bitcoin could potentially reach €200,000 (around $233,000), though he stressed that adoption and integration are more crucial than hitting specific price targets.

“The important question is: what happens when bitcoin becomes firmly entrenched in the portfolios of major institutions, the reserves of sovereign nations, and the infrastructure of global banking?” Demuth said. “That’s the direction things are moving.”

Looking ahead, he believes bitcoin’s market capitalization could gradually close the gap with gold, whose market cap exceeds $22 trillion—nine times that of bitcoin today.