Bitcoin breaks $21,000 alongside $255M of 24-hour spot purchases

Bitcoin has broken $21,000.

According to CoinGecko data, BTC was valued at $21,083 at 12:59 a.m. UTC on Jan. 14. Its market cap was $403 billion. That change represents a 12% increase in 24 hours.

Data also shows that $245 million of shorts have been liquidated over the past 24 hours, while $255 million of Bitcoin was bought on spot markets today.

There are no major events that could have had an obvious positive effect on investor activity. Rather, changing investor sentiment may be due to a lack of bad news — and due to the fact that major crises like FTX’s collapse are fading into the past.

Furthermore, Bitcoin’s gains today represent ongoing growth over the past several days. This week, positive anticipation and sentiment toward a Consumer Price Index (CPI) announcement appeared to contribute to Bitcoin’s price growth.

The round number of $20,000 also represents a psychological barrier, and as such, investors may be optimistic now that Bitcoin has crossed it.

Bitcoin typically leads the crypto market, and its performance today contributed to the crypto market’s overall growth. The entire crypto market cap was up 8% over the past 24 hours, and it now has a market cap of $1.02 trillion.

Both Bitcoin and the entire crypto market outperformed the stock market today. The Dow Jones was up 0.3% today, while the S&P 500 was up 0.4%.

However, some altcoins have seen modest growth compared to Bitcoin. Ethereum was up 9.8%, while XRP, BNB, and Polygon each gained close to 6%. It remains to be seen whether the crypto market will continue to trend upward.