Bitcoin Reclaims $81,000 as Altcoins Rally, Crypto Stocks Post Their Best Session in Months

Bitcoin climbed back above $81,000 over the weekend, trading at $81,237 as of Monday, up 5.6% over the past seven days and reversing the dip below $76,000 that followed last Wednesday's Fed rate hike, according to CoinGecko. The rebound pulled the rest of the market with it: total crypto market capitalization reclaimed $2.8 trillion over the weekend and briefly neared $2.9 trillion, with altcoins alone climbing from $1.17 trillion to a peak of $1.23 trillion, according to Coinmarketcap data.

Crypto-linked equities had their best session in months on Friday. Coinbase (COIN) rose 11.7% to $194.25, Strategy (MSTR) jumped 16.4% to $153.92, Robinhood (HOOD) gained 9.1% to $119.82, and Circle (CRCL) added 7.9% to $91.78, according to Yahoo Finance. The moves followed Wall Street's read of the SEC's tokenized-stock exemption issued last week: Goldman Sachs and Citizens analysts named Coinbase, Robinhood and Circle as early beneficiaries, pointing to Coinbase's existing tokenized-equity product and institutional custody business, Robinhood's plan to add share redemption and voting rights to its offshore tokenized products, and Circle's USDC positioned as a settlement currency for onchain markets. Robinhood also drew a wave of price-target increases, including Goldman at $142, StoneX at $170 and Citizens at $165, tied to both the tokenization opportunity and stronger deposit and subscriber growth.

Beyond Bitcoin, gains concentrated in a handful of tokens with specific catalysts rather than a uniform rally. Hyperliquid's HYPE hit a fresh all-time high above $94 after Hyperliquid Strategies, an affiliated buyer, accumulated 4.28 million HYPE tokens, worth roughly $385 million, over three weeks, according to BigGo Finance's reporting. That purchase equaled about 1.4% of HYPE's circulating supply and roughly 15% of recent trading volume, a concentration analyst Shaunda Devens flagged as a risk given that Hyperliquid's revenues have fallen by roughly half since last August even as HYPE's price has nearly doubled over the same period. NEAR Protocol surged 52.6% over the week to near $3.50 after Hyperliquid launched confidential perpetual futures on NEAR on September 17, letting traders open positions without publicly linking them to their accounts. Zcash extended its rally from the previous week, adding another 36% to a multi-year high near $1,590 on continued momentum from Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang's disclosure of a ZEC position days earlier, while Injective gained after 21Shares filed for a spot INJ ETF.

Traders pointed to a mix of relief and rotation to explain the breadth of the move. Bitcoin's rebound came alongside a breakout in the ETH/BTC trading pair, a ratio some analysts treat as an early signal of altseason, and the Crypto Fear and Greed Index has held in greed territory for its longest stretch this year. Some commentary framed Bitcoin's climb in macro terms too, tying it to US federal debt crossing $40 trillion and Bitcoin's fixed 21-million-coin supply as a hedge narrative gaining renewed traction, according to Invezz's market coverage.

The rally still has to contend with the same forces that briefly knocked Bitcoin below $76,000 the week before: the 10-year Treasury yield has drifted back toward 5%, and futures markets are pricing in a further 75 basis points of Fed tightening over the next six months, with Goldman Sachs projecting another hike as soon as October.