Leading cryptocurrencies edged higher Thursday as traders returned from New Year's break with bullish optimism.

What Happened: Bitcoin surged to $97,700 late afternoon as upward volatility returned to the market. The leading cryptocurrency lost steam since the $100,000 tease on Christmas, but the latest uptick has taken its weekly gains into the green

Ethereum almost touched $3,500 in the morning before retreating to the $3,500 zone.

The market has high expectations that the incoming Donald Trump administration will bring a golden era for cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency liquidations hit $175 million in the last 24 hours, with nearly $83 million in upside bets getting wiped out.

Bitcoin's Open Interest rose by 0.99%, while Ethereum witnessed higher speculative interest with a 3% jump in funds locked in unsettled derivatives.

The percentage of traders placing long positions on Bitcoin dropped from 62% to 54% in the last 24 hours, according to Long/Short Ratio.

That said, markets became more greedy, according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, hinting at a potential surge in buying pressure.

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $3.41 trillion, following a spike of 2.52% in the last 24 hours.

Stocks closed in the red in Wall Street's first trading session in 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to close at 42,392.27. The S&P 500 slipped 0.22%, ending at 5,868.55, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.16% to end at 19,280.79.

Cryptocurrency-related stocks rose during Thursday's trading session, with both MicroStrategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) closing 3.59% higher.

Analyst Notes: Influential cryptocurrency analyst Rekt Capital presented their outlook for 2025.

"2025 will likely see the BTC bull market peak and the very beginnings of a brand new bear market," the analyst projected. "The majority of the bear market will take place, however, in 2026."

2025 will likely see the #BTC Bull Market peak and the very beginnings of a brand new Bear Market
The majority of the Bear Market will take place however in 2026
The Bear Market would last some 365+ days and be between -65% to -80% deep$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin

— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) January 2, 2025

Well-known on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant stated that the bull market was far from ending, citing on-chain indicators like network fees and miner sell-offs.

"On-chain data suggests the bull market is still intact, and the current phase appears to be a cooling-off period rather than a cycle peak," the firm added. "However, short-term price movements remain unpredictable."

We Are Still in the Midst of a Bull Market
"On-chain data suggests the bull market is still intact, and the current phase appears to be a cooling-off period rather than a cycle peak." – By @Avocado_onchain
See the data  pic.twitter.com/YCSpl0lIHC

— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) January 2, 2025