Leading cryptocurrencies surged Sunday evening as investors raised risk appetites on strong expectations of another interest rate cut.

What Happened: Bitcoin tapped a new all-time high of $106,000, having earlier broken through the $102,000 resistance

Following in its footsteps, Ethereum rose above $4,000 before pulling back slightly.

Total cryptocurrency liquidations topped $309 million over the last 24 hours, out of which $204 million belonged to leveraged shorts.

The market started to get overleveraged, and any dip below $100,000 would liquidate over $1 billion in long positions.

Bitcoin's Open Interest soared by 7.48% in the last 24 hours. A rise in OI, coinciding with a price rally, indicated an influx of fresh money into the derivatives market.

Market sentiment remained in the "Extreme Greed" zone, as per the Cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index,

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $3.74 trillion, following an increase of 1.92% over the last 24 hours.

Stock futures traded near flatline Sunday evening. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures rose 46 points, or 0.10%, as of 8:40 p.m. EDT. Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.07%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures added only 0.04%.

This week, investors will focus on the year's last Federal Open Market Committee meeting, during which the central bank officials will decide on the benchmark interest rates.

Participants have priced in a 93.7% chance of a 0.25% cut to a 4.25%-4.50% range, as per the CME Fedwatch tool.

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Analyst Notes: Amid Bitcoin's strong rally, influential cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez sparked concerns about a potential market top.

"Long-term Bitcoin holders often sell near market tops. Interestingly, in 2017 and 2021, their biggest sell-offs occurred right before the final leg-up," Martinez said, drawing parallels with ongoing patterns.

"Could we be on the verge of a similar pattern? Is this the start of a market top?"

Another widely followed market observer, Michaël van de Poppe, predicted the "next wave" for altcoins.

"Yes, it's time for a new move and, as the markets tend to move like this, but this move is going to be significantly bigger than the previous one," the analyst remarked.

In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin dominance dropped by 4% to 55.9%, while the market share of altcoins rose 3.48% to 31.2%.

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