Major cryptocurrencies experienced a positive trend ahead of Monday's opening of US equities, with bitcoin (BTC) continuing its impressive ascent beyond $106,000. Bitcoin was noted to be up 0.5%, trading around $103,731 before the market opened, having briefly surpassed $106,499 earlier. Ethereum (ETH) saw an increase of approximately 2.3%, reaching $3,949, while Solana (SOL) slightly decreased by 0.3%, trading at about $217.77. The global cryptocurrency market capitalization rose by 0.3%, nearing $3.65 trillion.
Meanwhile, the CoinDesk Market Index, which monitors digital assets, showed a drop of around 0.9% over the previous 24 hours. LMAX Digital highlighted that two main narratives are driving this recent surge. First, President-elect Trump's discussions regarding establishing a bitcoin strategic reserve have sparked interest.
Secondly, it was announced that MicroStrategy ($MSTR) will join the Nasdaq 100 on December 23, adding further excitement in the markets. Last week, US-traded spot price bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded net inflows totaling $2.17 billion, elevating their total assets to $114.97 billion, as revealed by data from SoSoValue.com.
Ethereum ETFs also saw significant inflows of $854.9 million last week, pushing their total assets to $13.78 billion. The Federal Reserve's monetary policy-setting committee is set to convene on Tuesday, with a decision regarding interest rates expected on Wednesday. Market speculation largely anticipates a reduction in interest rates by 25 basis points, as indicated by the CME FedWatch tool. Additionally, the Census Bureau is scheduled to release retail sales figures for November, along with the housing market index for December on Tuesday.
On Friday, the personal income and outlays report for November will be released, which includes the personal consumption expenditure core price index, a key inflation metric favored by the Fed..