Crypto market gains $100 billion daily as Bitcoin (BTC) heads towards $72,000 (MarketWatch)

After trading quietly over the weekend, Bitcoin prices rose further on Monday, hitting a new all-time high of around $72,000.

Altcoins are also turning green, with NEAR leading the way with a massive 20% rally, followed by LINK, LTC, and more.

BTC Latest ATH

The start of this Monday seems like a repeat of what happened last week. At the time, BTC had a quiet weekend and its level was just under $62,000. However, once the first day of the business week arrived, the cryptocurrency soared by thousands of dollars by the end, knocking on the door of ATH from 2021.

A decline in the $69,044 level seemed inevitable, but it actually did in late Tuesday. Then a massive rejection occurred and Bitcoin fell by about $100,000. The bulls stepped up at this point and recovered most of their losses by Friday. Further gains occurred and BTC crossed $70,000 for the first time in history, but stalled again.

Volatility dropped significantly over the weekend, but Bitcoin was still nearing $70,000. That level was conclusively overcome earlier today when BTC surged above that level and rose to $71,750 (as of now).

Its control over alternatives has increased to 49.7% and its market capitalization now exceeds $1.4 trillion.

NEAR steals the show

Most of the large-cap alternative stocks are also turning green on a daily scale. Ethereum was one of the slowest gainers, rising 2% and trading just above $4,000. Binance Coin has once again hit a multi-year peak at $530 after rising 2% daily.

Chainlink, IMX, and Litecoin soared between 6-8% today. Nevertheless, the native token of the NEAR protocol entered the main stage with a significant increase of 20%. As a result, NEAR is currently trading well above $7.

The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has increased by more than $100 billion in one day and about $200 billion in the past week, topping $2.8 trillion for the first time in more than two years.