By George Glover
Bitcoin extended its Thanksgiving rally on Black Friday, and cryptocurrency-related stocks also looked set to rise ahead of the market reopening.
The large-cap token was up 2.1% to $96,801, having also risen on Thursday. It’s trading about 3% shy of $100,000.
Bitcoin reaching that level would be the perfect festive seasonal gift for crypto bulls. The token rallied after Donald Trump won the U.S. election earlier this month, on the expectation that a Republican administration would cut digital-asset regulation. But its price has stalled just short of six figures.
Lower volume of trades around Thanksgiving explains why Bitcoin hasn’t swung wildly in recent days, FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said in a research note. Its price is likely to hover between $92,000 and $100,000 for a while, and “only a move out of this range will spark volatility and signal the market’s medium-term direction,” he added.
Crypto-related stocks were playing catch-up on Friday, with markets set to reopen at 9.30 a.m. Eastern Time. Shares in Bitcoin buyer MicroStrategy, which has funded its purchases of the token by selling stock and convertible bonds, rose 3.7% in the premarket. Online-trading platform Robinhood Markets was up 2.9%, and Square parent Block added 1.3%. Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 gained 0.3%.
Other tokens were climbing, too. Ethereum edged up 0.2% to $3,579, and Dogecoin — a so-called meme coin that’s been touted in the past by Trump ally Elon Musk — rose 3.2% to just over 41 cents.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron’s, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron’s is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
© 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.