Crypto Today: Bitcoin records largest weekly gain as it adds more than $2K
- Total market cap rises above $300 billion on Friday.
- CME Group is set to kick-off bitcoin futures on December 18.
- Bitcoin inches closer to $11K.
Despite the relatively deep corrective drop witnessed on Wednesday and Thursday, the BTC/USD pair remains on track to record its biggest weekly gain as it adds more than $2000 since Monday. Following the CME Group's official announcement to include bitcoin futures starting December 18, the pair broke above the $10000 mark once again and was last seen trading at $10800, up 9% on the day. Fueled by bitcoin's surge, the second most-traded digital currency, ether, also gathered strength on Friday. As of writing, the ETH/USD pair was up 7.3% at $464.
"The prospective launch of bitcoin futures contracts by established exchanges in particular has the potential to add legitimacy and thus increase the appeal of the cryptocurrency market to both retail and institutional investors," Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, a global markets strategist at JPMorgan, wrote in a note to clients on Friday.
The total market capitalization of all digital currencies, which lost as much as $70 billion in a two-day span, increased more than $40 billion and surpassed the $300 billion mark on Friday. Bitcoin remained as the most dominant digital currency by occupying 56% of all trading volume while ether's volume remained unchanged near 14%.
In an article written for coindesk.com, FXStreet analyst Omkar Godbole, wrote, "consolidation around $10,000 for the next 24 to 36 hours, followed by 1-hour close above $10,850 on the back of stronger volumes would open doors for a rally to fresh record highs. A close below the rising trend line could yield a deeper sell-off to $7,800, although the upward sloping 10-day MA indicates the dip could be short-lived."