Bitcoin is firmly above US$96,000 today (3rd). Analysts believe that behind this stabilizing force is traders’ anticipation of upcoming important events, such as Trump’s inauguration on January 20. Due to caution.
According to Coinglass data, Bitcoin perpetual futures funding rates reached 0.01% in the latest 8-hour contract period, the highest point in the past week, but still within the "neutral range."
Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet, pointed out: "The current funding rate for Bitcoin perpetual futures has not increased significantly and remains within a neutral range."
This stability reflects that traders, although somewhat optimistic before key events (such as Trump's inauguration), remain cautious and have not yet entered the market to position long positions.
According to data from CoinGlass, the total liquidation volume (liquidation amount) of the cryptocurrency market futures contract in the past 24 hours was US$178 million. Bitcoin traders suffered the heaviest losses, with approximately US$44.4 million in positions liquidated, of which approximately 24.21 million USD comes from short positions.
This trend, coupled with the decline in overall market trading volume, highlights the current increasingly cautious attitude of traders towards market risks, with many reluctant to make too many bets on Bitcoin at this stage.
AI tokens become a new focus, driving a new narrative in the market
As the price of Bitcoin stabilizes, new topics in the market are gradually focusing on the rise of AI-related tokens, especially those tokens that use blockchain technology for portfolio management and DeFi optimization, which are attracting more and more investors. gaze.
"AI tokens are rapidly rising and becoming an emerging force in the blockchain ecosystem," said Alvin Kan. "It is expected that in 2025, AI Agents will play a key role in portfolio management and blockchain governance."
WeFi co-founder Maksym Sakharov also pointed out that projects like ai16z are leading a new narrative wave, just like the waves set off by NFT and DeFi in the past, which are bringing disruptive effects to the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. He said: "AI tokens have become one of the fastest-growing fields in the cryptocurrency industry, and they are constantly reshaping the entire ecosystem through innovative application scenarios."
Ahmad Shadid, founder of O.xyz, further emphasized that although AI tokens are currently speculative to a certain extent, with the widespread application of AI Agents, the profound impact on blockchain transactions in the future cannot be underestimated. He said that according to the current development trend, the number of AI Agents in the cryptocurrency market may double to exceed 10,000 in the next few months, and at the same time, the principle of decentralization will be more adhered to in operation.
Altcoins rebound strongly
In addition, altcoins have also shown a good recovery momentum recently, especially after experiencing violent fluctuations at the end of 2024, many currencies have rebounded significantly. Maksym Sakharov noted:
The recent strong performance of the altcoin sector shows that the market has gradually recovered from the volatility at the end of last year. As momentum continues, 2025 has the opportunity to challenge Bitcoin’s market dominance.
Citing analysis from Steno Research, he said Ethereum is expected to outperform Bitcoin this year, with the ETH/BTC exchange rate expected to rise from 0.035 to 0.06.
At the same time, Galaxy Research also predicts that Ethereum will have the opportunity to break through its all-time high in 2025 and attack US$6,000.
"Bitcoin holds steady at $96,000! Analysis: Market sentiment remains "cautiously optimistic" at the start of this year." This article was first published on (Block Guest).
