Leading cryptocurrencies experienced significant volatility on Thursday, spurred by former President Donald Trump’s announcement of a bold plan to transform the United States into the “crypto capital of the planet.”

What Happened: In the early trading hours, Bitcoin surged past the $61,000 mark, only to experience a sharp reversal, settling around $59,000 later in the day. Ethereum mirrored this pattern, climbing to nearly $2,600 before retracing to the low $2,500s and consolidating.

This market rally was ignited by Trump’s early morning social media post, where he unveiled his ambitious vision for making the U.S. the global hub of cryptocurrency.

Over the last 24 hours, a staggering 43,890 traders faced liquidations, with the total amounting to $118.52 million. Notably, long liquidations accounted for 68% of this total.

Bitcoin’s Open Interest saw a slight uptick of 0.35% in the past 24 hours, reaching $30.75 billion. Despite these movements, market sentiment remained in “Fear” according to the Cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index, indicating robust selling pressure.

Top Gainers (24-Hours): The global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $2.08 trillion, reflecting a marginal increase of 0.05% over the past day.

Stock Market Recap: Thursday’s stock market performance was mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 243.63 points or 0.59%, closing at a record high of 41,335.05. The S&P 500 index ended slightly below its previous close at 5,591.96, while the tech-centric Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.23%, finishing at 17,516.43.

In corporate news, NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA), despite delivering better-than-expected second-quarter results, saw its shares plunge by 6.38% during Thursday’s trading session.

Macroeconomic Update: The U.S. economy showed significant growth in the second quarter of the year, expanding by 3%. This marks a notable improvement from the 1.4% growth recorded in the first quarter.

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Analyst Notes: Prominent cryptocurrency analyst Rekt Capital highlighted that Bitcoin was in the midst of filling the CME gap—price discrepancies between the closing price on one trading day and the opening price on the next trading day.

“Reclaiming $60,600 as support will likely result in filling the CME Gap completely,” emphasized Rekt Capital.

Another trader known as Hardy commented on how the U.S. trading session threw a “curveball” to Bitcoin’s trajectory after a bullish European session.

“The pressing question now is whether the bulls will defend the $58K/$59K support levels,” Hardy noted, adding that they plan to hold their position and potentially increase it if Bitcoin dips further.

Photo Credit: Igor Faun on Shutterstock

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