Leading cryptocurrencies edged higher Thursday as risk-taking investors continued to cheer the Federal Reserve's bold half-point interest rate cut.

What Happened: Bitcoin surged above $63,800 in the afternoon, clocking its highest value in nearly four weeks. The leading cryptocurrency descended below $63,000 overnight as some investors locked in gains.

The Fed announced a 50 basis point cut in interest rates earlier this week, bringing the federal funds rate down to a range of 4.75% to 5%. Since this move, Bitcoin has leaped nearly 6%.

The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum almost touched $2,500, before retreating to the mid- $2,400 region.

The total cryptocurrency liquidations soared past $124 million in the past 24 hours, with $77 million in downside bets getting wiped out.

Bitcoin's funding rate was positive on most major cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Bybit, indicating the dominance of long-position traders.

The market sentiment was "neutral," according to the popular Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index.

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market stood at $2.17 trillion, following an increase of 1.80% in the last 24 hours.

Stocks closed at new highs Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 522.09 points, or 1.26%, to finish at 42,025.19, marking the 30-stock index's first close above 42,000. The S&P 500 lifted 1.70% to end at 5,713.64, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite surged 2.51% to close at 18,013.98.

Inventors weighed in the weekly jobless claims numbers that fell by 12,000 from the prior week to 219,000 in the week ending Sept. 14, well below the estimates.

Analyst Notes: Widely-followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader Ali Martinez observed Bitcoin's RSI breaking out of a key resistance trendline, prompting him to issue a bullish forecast.

"However, BTC still needs to reclaim the 200-day moving average as support to confirm the continuation of the bull run," the analyst added the caveat.

On the #Bitcoin daily chart, the RSI has broken through a key resistance trendline, signaling a bullish breakout!
However, $BTC still needs to reclaim the 200-day moving average as support to confirm the continuation of the bull run. pic.twitter.com/d6n6j6jH0l

— Ali (@ali_charts) September 19, 2024

Prominent analyst Michaël van de Poppe raised Ethereum's upside potential after the rate cut, predicting higher inflows into ETFs and more interest in yield.

"The likelihood of more rate cuts will be substantial, through which $ETH and DeFi become way more attractive," he remarked.

Rate cuts have happened!
The likelihood of more rate cuts will be substantial, through which $ETH and DeFi become way more attractive.
I think this would mean a higher inflow in the ETF + more interest in Yield, through which ETH/BTC should be running upwards.
Let's see. pic.twitter.com/n5Ic6e3Yiu

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) September 19, 2024