Bitcoin eyes return above $109,000, unpacking the effect of Donald Trump’s first week on crypto

Bitcoin (BTC) rallies past the $107,000 level on Friday while traders remain hopeful of a retest of the token’s all-time high. United States (US) President Donald Trump took several pro-crypto actions in his first week back in the Oval Office. 

Trump picked winners and losers with his meme token launch, made key appointments, chose Securities and Exchange Commissioner (SEC) Hester Peirce as head of a committee in charge of drafting crypto regulation and appointed pro-crypto Mark Uyeda as SEC Chair. 

Bitcoin traders rejoice as crypto President takes charge

Bitcoin hit a new all-time high above $109,000 on the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The optimism surrounding Trump’s inauguration fizzled out with no comments or executive orders on crypto during his first two days back in the Oval Office. 

While crypto may have slipped Trump’s mind during his inauguration speech and the slew of executive orders he signed in the first two days, crypto traders remained hopeful as the President commented on the launch of his Solana-based meme token Official Trump (TRUMP), and the subsequent profits generated, referring to the latter as “peanuts.”

Following President Trump’s executive order to promote the growth of digital technologies in the US and a working group on the national Bitcoin stockpile, analysts on X unpacked the details and made three key observations:

• A strategic Bitcoin reserve set to be built by the US is not priced in yet, and it fuels a bullish narrative for the largest cryptocurrency. 
• Traders should watch developments in Senator Cynthia Lummis’ bill closely for a timeline and expected price impact of building a national BTC stockpile. 
• Following Trump’s comments, the analyst behind the X handle @MacroScope17 has set a $1 million per Bitcoin target for the token.

President Trump likely crowned Solana the winner in the war between Ether and SOL through his meme token launch. Several on-chain metrics on Santiment show spikes in Solana’s user activity, volume, whale transactions, and open interest, following the launch of Trump’s TRUMP and first lady Melania’s meme token MELANIA, on the SOL blockchain. 

Even as the stablecoin supply held by large wallet investors is in a downtrend, a spike was recorded this week, representing the demand for SOL and crypto tokens among whales. This coincides with above-average trade volume and activity in Solana, recorded in the Santiment chart below. 

On-chain analysis of Solana | Source: Santiment

Why large investors at Davos are unimpressed with Trump’s Bitcoin strategy

A Reuters report published on Friday, analyzes why large investors would still prefer to remain on the sidelines, even as Trump promotes pro-crypto policy, regulation and takes measures to build a national BTC stockpile. 

The US President’s address failed to convince Guggenheim Partners, headquartered in New York and Chicago. Anne Walsh, the company’s chief investment officer, told Reuters: "I am not an advocate, nor a critic... it is not what it was supposed to be, which was an alternative to banking." 

The firm manages over $335 billion and has yet to invest in crypto. “To me, what crypto really correlates to is Nasdaq - it's a risk-on appetite indicator to me,” she added.