It was almost painful for days to write these price updates, but this isn’t the case today, as bitcoin recorded its most impressive surge in 2026 that wasn’t after a notable decline. The asset skyrocketed by several grand yesterday and tapped a two-month peak at over $70,000.
The altcoins have all turned green as well, helping the total market cap add $200 billion in the span of less than 24 hours.
BTC Rocketed Past $70K
It was less than a week ago, on Friday, when the bears appeared to be in control of the market, pushing the largest digital asset to $62,500. Although it rebounded in the following days, it remained sideways at $63,000 with little to no indication of an upcoming breakout.
The first signs emerged on Monday and Tuesday as the cryptocurrency gradually increased to $64,000 and even briefly tapped $65,000. It was stopped there and slipped to $64,400 yesterday before all hell broke loose. What took place in the following few hours was almost thought to be impossible in the crypto markets.
Bitcoin initiated a massive leg up that drove it higher by over $6,000 in hours. It smashed through several key resistance zones and finally touched $70,000 for the first time since mid-June. Although it was stopped there at first and slipped to $68,000, the bulls were more persistent and drove it higher to well over $70,000 as of press time again, while the community comments on the possible reasons behind this surge.
Its market capitalization has exploded by over $100 billion in a day to $1.410 trillion on CG. Its dominance over the alts stands tall at 57%.
BTCUSD August 20. Source: TradingView
Alts See Nothing But Green
Ethereum has taken the main stage during this revival, surging by over 17% to a multi-month peak of its own at $2,270. HYPE has also taken full advantage of the situation, especially after some promising words from Trump, and now sits at $72 following a mind-blowing 24% pump. SOL, XRP, DOGE, RAIN, ZEC, LINK, and BNB are all in the green.
There are a few exceptions, such as XMR and WLFI, but the dominant market sentiment among the alts has flipped significantly.
This has pushed the total crypto market cap to $2.470 billion as of press time – or roughly $200 billion higher than yesterday.
Cryptocurrency Market Overview August 20. Source: QuantifyCrypto
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