The declining CPI numbers brought some positives back to the crypto markets as Bitcoin surged near $25,000.
Altcoins followed, and many, like ETH, marked multi-month highs of their own. The cryptocurrency market cap has increased by $70 billion a day.
Bitcoin Struggles Below $25K
After a relatively quiet weekend that saw bitcoin mainly around the $23,000 mark, the asset went on the offensive on Monday, jumping above $24,000.
However, the bears came back almost immediately and did not allow for any further increases. On the contrary, BTC started a pullback and dropped to $22,700.
Bitcoin bounced back to $23,000 in anticipation of the upcoming July US CPI figure, expected to come in lower than the previous month.
Indeed, the US announced a lower inflation rate of 8.5%, which was even below the forecast inflation rate of 8.7%. Being a riskier asset, bitcoin reacted with an immediate price surge to $24,000.
Further fluctuations followed a bit later, with BTC jumping to just under $25,000, its highest price in almost two months. However, the cryptocurrency is currently trading down more than $1,000, but its market cap is still well over $450 billion. This is the BTCUSD chart of tradingview.com.
ETH leads the Alts rally
As usual with heightened volatility, the alternative coins are trailing behind, marking even more impressive price swings.
For example, Ethereum was around $1,700 but then surged to over $200. As a result, it hit its own multi-month high at $1,920 (on Bitstamp). Despite a slight drop since then, the second largest cryptocurrency is still over 10% higher than the day before.
Solana is another double-digit price gainer, and SOL has hit the $45 mark. Cardano, Polkadot, Avalanche, and MATIC also saw impressive price gains.
BNB, Ripple, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu are also in the green, albeit with more modest gains.
Most of the smaller and mid-cap alternative coins have also seen notable increases. This means that the cumulative market cap of all cryptocurrencies has increased by more than $70 billion in one day and is over $1.150 trillion.