This Could Be A Very Big Week For Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, Litecoin And

Bitcoin, after charging into December, has hit something of a brick wall—stopping just short of fresh territory north of $20,000 per bitcoin.

The bitcoin price has added an impressive 160% since January, helping smaller cryptocurrencies ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, litecoin and chainlink make triple-digit gains through the year.

Now, with traders gearing up for a so-called Santa rally in the last week before Christmas, bitcoin, ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, litecoin and chainlink investors are hoping holiday season cheer will help them finish the year on a high.

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Since 1970, around two-thirds of years have seen a stock market Santa rally, averaging a 1.4% gain. Bitcoin recorded massive Santa rallies in 2013 and 2017. Last year, bitcoin got a smaller late-December boost.

Bitcoin has been bouncing around under $20,000 since early December, climbing along with stocks and most other assets as governments continue to flood global markets with stimulus designed to fight the coronavirus-induced economic shock—something some think could mean no Santa rally this year, but many bitcoin and cryptocurrency watchers are upbeat.

“Given that bitcoin has been moving up or down 2.4% a day on average during the last two months, breaching $20,000 by Christmas is reasonable,” cryptocurrency trader and economist Alex Krüger said via Telegram, adding he “favors upwards continuation” despite recent “regulatory concerns” in the U.S. encouraging sellers and “a notable increase in selling pressure from [bitcoin] miners [who are rewarded with bitcoin for maintaining and securing the network].”

The bitcoin market was spooked last month when the chief executive of San Francisco-based bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase warned he’d heard rumors that the U.S. Treasury Department could rush out new regulations regarding self-hosted crypto wallets before President Donald Trump’s term ends in January.

“Such regulatory changes should not impact institutional interest negatively,” Krüger added. “Financial markets are likely to remain risk-on, while the Federal Reserve should reassure markets on Wednesday about its long-term dovish stance and MicroStrategy is about to deploy $650 million into bitcoin.”

This week, U.S. business intelligence company MicroStrategy announced it raised $650 million via bond sales to buy more bitcoin—expected to take its holdings to over $1 billion—triggering a fresh wave of bullishness among crypto investors.

“We’ll break $20,000 [before Christmas],” said Ryan Selkis, the chief executive of bitcoin and cryptocurrency data company Messari,…