Bitcoin jumps to new record above $109,000 as traders cheer Trump inauguration, meme coins

Bitcoin hit a new overnight high after the first entering pair launched a pair of meme coins and while traders wait inauguration of incoming President Donald Trump.

On Monday, the leading cryptocurrency was last higher by nearly 1% at $106,622.54, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $109,350.72, after briefly falling below the $100,000 mark on Sunday.

During the weekend, Trump launched the “Official Trump” Meme coin, which has grown to a market capitalization of $10.6 billion and has grown by more than 659% since Friday night, according to data from CoinGecko and Coinbase. On Monday it was down about 27% from its price record of about $ 73 a coin, then return First lady Melania Trump launched his own “Melania” meme coin on Sunday — almost half of Trump’s coin in value at one point.

Melanie Memewhich began trading on Sunday night, has hit a market capitalization of $1.3 billion and a 14% price increase since its launch. It attracted $7.3 billion in trading volume in the last day, compared to the Trump meme’s $31 billion.

Although meme coins are considered the riskiest corner of the already risky cryptocurrency market, Trumps coin launches over the weekend gave traders more confidence that the incoming administration will be positive for the administration industry

“The move underscores President Trump’s embrace of crypto and the belief that Americans should have the freedom to operate in the emerging asset class,” said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX.

“There is a logic here that suggests that putting a stamp of approval on what could be perceived as the wildest of crypto assets, meme coins, is the best way to send a message of how supportive the market is should expect the administration to be. when it comes to embracing crypto and making America a major player in the space.”

Noelle Acheson, economist and author of the newsletter “Crypto is Macro Now”, echoed that sentiment, calling the meme drops net positive and “a sign that is very favorable to new ideas. [and] new markets”.

Bitcoin began to gain steam last week as speculation began to build that Trump might announce an executive order on the crypto before his term. Gracy Chen, CEO of crypto exchange Bitget, said that optimism has a greater effect on its price.

“The rumors that cryptocurrencies may be declared a national interest by the United States during the inauguration have a positive effect on the price of bitcoin,” he told CNBC. “I do not believe that the increase in the price of Bitcoin is due to the launch of new meme tokens. Rather … without the release of the tokens of the Trump family, the price of bitcoin would have risen more. Instead, capital moved to new currencies, limiting overall growth.”

Bitcoin’s new record opens the door to a possible upside extension to $130,000, LMAX’s Kruger added.