Leading cryptocurrencies rallied ahead of Thanksgiving, shrugging off sell-offs in the stock market.

What Happened: Bitcoin began to surge in the early morning hours, reaching an intraday peak of $97,357. The rally reversed the corrective action that halted the leading cryptocurrency's march to $100,000.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, outshone its senior partner with nearly 10% gains over the last 24 hours. The uptick boosted its weekly returns to 17%, compared to Bitcoin's 1.34%.

Over $261 million were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with downside bets accounting for $182 million in losses.

Speculative interest rose as Open Interest, or the money locked in unsettled derivatives contracts, increased 14.62% for Ethereum, and 2.95% for Bitcoin.

The number of traders taking long positions for Bitcoin surged against those taking downside bets, according to the Long/Shorts Ratio.

The "Extreme Greed" sentiment strengthened from 75 to 77 over the last 24 hours, according to the reading of the Crypto Fear & Greed Index.

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $3.34 trillion, following a jump of 4.18% in the last 24 hours.

Stock market investors locked in gains ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed 138.25 points, or 0.31%, to close at 44,722.06. The S&P 500 slid 0.38% to end at 5,998.74, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.60% to close at 19,060.48.

In other news, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve's most reliable inflation measure, increased in October but met expert forecasts.

Traders priced in a 64.7% chance of a 0.25% rate cut in next month's FOMC meeting, up from 59.4% a day earlier, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

U.S. markets will remain shut on Thursday due to Thanksgiving.

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Analyst Notes: Noted on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant stated that Bitcoin's cycle was still far from the "Extreme Bull" phase, suggesting potential for further growth.

It added that price drawdowns would eventually follow, as history has shown, allowing players who missed jumping in earlier another shot.

Widely-followed cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez issued $6,000 as a mid-term target for Ethereum while setting $10,000 as the long-term goal.

Another influential analyst, Rekt Capital, stated that Ether needs a weekly close above the $3,700 resistance to "new highs not seen since late 2021."

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