Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Trade Mixed Amid High-Praise For King Crypto From Jim Cramer: Analyst Says 'We Will Hit $100k In 2024' As BTC Starts Year With 21-Month High

Major cryptocurrencies traded mixed on Tuesday evening as major Wall Street firms completed their paperwork last week, anticipating approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

What Happened: On Tuesday, altcoins such as Ethereum and Solana experienced a slight drop. 

This occurred as Jim Cramer, former hedge fund manager and host of CNBC's Mad Money, reversed his previously bearish stance on Bitcoin on Tuesday morning. This shift comes ahead of anticipated U.S. regulatory approval of a spot ETF and as the price of bitcoin rose above $45,000 for the first time in 21 months.

“This thing, you can’t kill it,” Cramer told CNBC’s David Faber. “Bitcoin is a technological marvel and I think people need to start recognizing it’s here to stay.” Cramer also observed another well-known Bitcoin skeptic, remarking that the late Charlie Munger “was blind to this.”

In other news that comes as a major development, Michael Saylor, the co-founder of the business intelligence company MicroStrategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR), on Tuesday sold company shares worth around $216 million. The 315,000 shares that were sold were acquired through stock options, as mentioned in Tuesday's filing.

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) suffered its largest daily decline since mid-2023 despite a surge in Bitcoin to a 21-month high. Coinbase shares closed the session just below $157, marking a 9.8% drop on the first trading day of the year. This decline followed by losses on Friday, attributed to profit-taking at the end of the year following a nearly fivefold increase in the stock price in 2023.

Furthermore, the rally in bitcoin did not benefit bitcoin miners, as they experienced a reversal from early gains to modest losses. Both Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) and Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) closed 1%-2% lower than Friday’s closing price and nearly 10% lower than their opening price.

Top Gainer (24 Hour)

The global crypto market cap has reached $1.73 trillion, marking a 0.03% decrease in the last 24 hours.

The S&P 500 declined on the first trading day of the year, prompted by a slight rise in bond yields and profit-taking after a remarkably strong 2023. The S&P 500 index dropped by 0.57% to finish at 4,742.83. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite experienced its weakest performance since October, with a 1.63% pullback to 14,765.94. 

Notably, markets were closed on Monday for New Year's Day.

See More: Best Cryptocurrency Scanners

Analyst Notes: Cryptocurrency analyst Michael Van de Poppe predicts a new rally for Bitcoin as the year kicks off, aiming for new highs.

"I’m still expecting continuation towards $48-51K and find a potential resistance there.ETF to be approved this week?!"

Pseudonymous cryptocurrency analyst PlanB maintains that his predictions have remained unchanged since late 2022, even amidst the challenging conditions of the bear market. He confidently asserts, “We will hit $100k in 2024.”

Providing forward guidance for 2024, PlanB reaffirms the predictions made on Oct 6, 2022, when Bitcoin was at $20k.

"– rise into April 2024 halving

– halving around S2F model value 55k (range 30k-100k)

– pump after halving

– we will hit 100k in 2024

– S2F target value 532k average (range 250k-1m)"

According to Santiment, a company specializing in on-chain analytics, the market value of Bitcoin has surged to $45.8K, reaching its highest point since April 2021. This upward trend has also spurred the rise of various alternative cryptocurrencies in early 2024. Several breakout assets are showing consistent patterns in social volume. If the fear of missing out (FOMO) does not excessively influence the market, cryptocurrencies such as ICP, FIL, ARB, BSV, MKR, and SEI could potentially experience significant growth.

Photo by SvetlanaParnikova on Shutterstock

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