Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) value soared past $54,000 on Monday, marking its highest point since November 2021 and breaking free from its recent trading stagnation.

This surge propels the cryptocurrency market into a renewed rally, with significant movements observed across the board.

What Happened: At the time of writing on Monday, Bitcoin's price stood at $54,329, reflecting a 4.6% increase over the last 24 hours.

Ether (CRYPTO: ETH), trailing closely behind Bitcoin in market size, also experienced a surge, climbing nearly 2% to hit a 22-month high of $3,170.

Coinglass data showed short liquidations spiking  

Also Read: MicroStrategy Buys Another 3,000 Bitcoin Amid Surge In Crypto Investment Product Inflows

QCP Capital's Insight: The trading firm QCP Capital highlighted the heightened activity in the altcoin sector, noting that funding rates for these assets have reached levels as high as 40% annually in perpetual swaps.

Both Bitcoin and Ether's forward curves have also seen significant elevation, offering yields of up to 17% at certain points.

However, QCP Capital warns that such speculative shifts towards altcoins and elevated funding rates are often mid-cycle phenomena that are challenging to maintain, suggesting a potential pullback in prices following the recent rally.

The global cryptocurrency market cap on Monday stood at $2.08 trillion, a 3.8% change in the last 24 hours and 91.7% change one year ago. As of Monday, the market cap of Bitcoin stood at $1.06 trillion, representing a Bitcoin dominance of 48.53%.

Meanwhile, the stablecoin market cap is at $141 billion and has a 6.53% share of the total cryptocurrency market cap.

Analyst takes: Cryptocurrency trader Altcoin Sherpa expects Bitcoin to outperform altcoins in the short run.

Meanwhile, technical analyst Ali Martinez highlighted the record number of Bitcoin whale addresses recently created:

#Bitcoin whales are going parabolic! In just the last month, over 150 new #BTC addresses, each holding more than 1,000 $BTC, have been created. pic.twitter.com/3lox2KrPcm

— Ali (@ali_charts) February 26, 2024

With the Bitcoin halving on the horizon, interest in cryptocurrencies is unlikely to fade any time soon.

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Image created using artificial intelligence with MidJourney