The cryptocurrency market rallied handsomely on Monday over increased odds of approval of spot Ethereum ETFs, with Bitcoin coming close to breaking its all-time highs.

What Happened: The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, raked in gains of more than 20% on the day, resulting in a breach of $3,700 for the first time in more than two months.

The upsurge caused Ethereum's Open Interest to shoot up by nearly 28% over the last 24 hours, reaching record highs of $14.95 billion.

The rally came after two prominent Bloomberg analysts, Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart raised their odds of spot Ether ETF approval to 75% from 25%. The final deadline for various applications falls later this week.

Bitcoin added significant gains as well, surging past $71,000 in the last 24 hours. The King Crypto was withing touching distance of breaching its all-time high of $73,000 set in mid-March.

The bull run triggered liquidations worth nearly $350 million in the last 24 hours, with short liquidations soaring to $272 million.

The Cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index started flashing " Extreme Greed" after more than a month, signaling high degree of FOMO in the market.

Top Gainer (24 Hour)

The global cryptocurrency market cap stands at $2.62 trillion, following a 9.32% jump in the last 24 hours.

Technology stocks ascended during the trading session, with the Nasdaq Composite closing at a record high of 16,794.87, following a 0.65% gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.48% to end the day at 39,806.77, while the S&P 500 added 0.09%, or 4,86 points, to close at 5,308.13.

The gains were driven by optimistic calls by analysts on NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) which is due to report its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

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Analyst Notes: According to on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, Bitcoin's Coinbase Premium Gap surged, indicating "robust" demand from Institutional investors in the U.S.

#Bitcoin surged past $70K, going up over 6% in the last 24 hours.
Elevated premium values on Coinbase suggest robust buying pressure from US investors. pic.twitter.com/fr2ZMz4Roo

— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) May 20, 2024

Prominent cryptocurrency analyst Kevin noted that Bitcoin was testing the final resistance before it eventually reclaimed its previous highs.

Currently testing the final resistance before we make it back to all time highs. #BTC

— Kevin (@Kev_Capital_TA) May 20, 2024