Bitcoin soars more than 10% as it trades above $21,000

Quick Take

  • Bitcoin was trading above $21,000 on Friday morning Eastern Time.
  • Ether was also up roughly 6% over the past 24 hours.
  • The global crypto market cap is, once again, above $1 trillion.

Cryptocurrency prices rose across the board on Friday, with bitcoin jumping as much as 10% and ether rising more than 6%.

At the time of writing, bitcoin is changing hands at roughly $21,100 per Coinbase data, which represents a rise of 9.2% over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile ether is trading above $1,700, up 6.4% in the past day.

The native asset of the Ethereum network is at $1,712, a jump of nearly 7% on the day, ahead of the much anticipated Merge next week.

RELATED INDICES

The Ethereum blockchain is moving to a proof of stake consensus mechanism some time between Sept. 10 and Sept. 20. The long-anticipated upgrade spurred traders to take bets on the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap in August. The Block identified in July that ether derivatives trading was surging ahead of The Merge. 

Elsewhere, traditional financial markets are also trending upwards. S&P 500 futures were up 0.78% and the Nasdaq 100 composite was up 1% at the time of writing. Cryptocurrencies have begun to trade in correlation with equities, having incrementally followed them since January. 

The global crypto market cap also regained the $1 trillion mark on Friday, as it continuously flirts with this level.


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About Author

Adam Morgan is a reporter covering cryptocurrency, financial markets, and economics – anything from price movements, earnings reports, and inflation to the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decisions and everything in between. Adam is based in London.