Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high, briefly trading at $99,500 during Friday’s intraday session before pulling back slightly. As of now, the cryptocurrency is priced at $98,675.

With heightened trading activity as the market anticipates a breakthrough above the $100,000 psychological level, digital asset research firm 10X Research predicts Bitcoin could climb to $115,000 by Christmas.

Why Bitcoin May Touch $115,000 Soon

In its new report, 10X Research found that the BTC market has become flush with liquidity in the past few weeks, a key factor that could drive Bitcoin toward the projected $115,000 mark. 

Stablecoin issuer Tether minted $10 billion in the past month. Also, Circle added $3 billion during the same period, fueling market momentum. This has resulted in a corresponding uptick in stablecoin flows to cryptocurrency exchanges over the past month. In a November 21 post on X, Leon Waidmann, head of research at The Onchain Foundation, confirmed this.

“Stablecoin inflows to exchanges hit $9.7B in 30 days! The LARGEST monthly inflow EVER. Stablecoin liquidity is back. Speculative demand continues to explode,” he said.

The surge in stablecoin inflows to cryptocurrency exchanges is a bullish signal. This influx often leads to increased buying pressure, driving the values of crypto assets upward.

“This massive wave of liquidity is reflected in elevated trading volumes, with spot volumes consistently exceeding $200 billion daily. The cryptocurrency market capitalization has surged past $3.2 trillion, equaling the size of the United Kingdom’s equity market,” 10X Research wrote.

Traders’ activity in the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) options market is another reason its price may climb to $115,000 by Christmas. 10X Research found that as of November 22, call options on IBIT outnumber puts by 5.5 to 1, rising from 3.8 to 1 on Thursday. Call buyers are also targeting strike prices in the 110-120% range, suggesting that they expect Bitcoin’s price to rally beyond $100,000 soon.

“Call buyers focus on strike prices in the 110-120% range, indicating they do not anticipate a short-term cap at Bitcoin’s psychological $100,000 level. Instead, December-expiry options activity suggests expectations for Bitcoin to rally towards $105,000 or even $115,000 by Christmas, with the latter strike showing the highest open interest,” the report stated.

 BTC Price Prediction: All Rests With the Buyers Now

According to the research firm, “this dynamic could trigger a minor gamma squeeze, causing Bitcoin’s price to gravitate toward these levels. As a result, $100,000 may only be another checkpoint on Bitcoin’s upward trajectory.”

BTC is currently trading at $98,675. Sustained buying momentum could push the coin back to its all-time high of $99,500 and potentially beyond. Establishing this level as support may pave the way for a surge toward $100,000 and higher.

On the other hand, if buying pressure weakens, BTC’s price may plunge toward $88,816, where its next major support lies. This will invalidate the bullish outlook above.

Mythical Games and FIFA have revealed plans for FIFA Rivals, an officially licensed mobile football game. The free-to-play title will launch on iOS and Android in the summer of 2025, though an exact release date remains undisclosed.

The game will let players build and manage their own football clubs and compete in real-time online matches. 

FIFA Rivals Will Integrate NFTs

Mythical Games, known for its NFL Rivals mobile game, will also incorporate NFTs into FIFA Rivals. As the studio told BeInCrypto, the game will have its exclusive NFT marketplace. Players will be able to trade their favorite football stars as NFTs.

The studio’s previous title, NFL Rivals, launched in April 2023. It also features collectible and tradeable NFT player cards minted on the Mythos blockchain, built with Polkadot. Since its release, the game has surpassed 6 million downloads across platforms.

Following a similar model, FIFA Rivals will use the Mythos blockchain, allowing players to collect and trade iconic football stars from both past and present eras.

“FIFA Rivals is designed to be highly accessible, featuring a shallow learning curve coupled with advanced features for hardcore players to explore,” Nate Nesbitt, spokesperson for Mythical Games told BeInCrypto. 

This isn’t FIFA’s first foray into NFT and Web3. During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA collaborated with multiple blockchain startups to release games and collectible apps. 

“The partnerships we have with both the NFL and with FIFA should open the door for other collaborations between web3 games studios and major sports titles,” Nate Nesbitt told BeInCrypto. 

Increasing Optimism for an NFT Comeback

The announcement coincides with renewed optimism in the NFT space. 

Most recently, ‘Vitalik.eth’, and wallet allegedly linked to the Ethereum co-founder, moved 32 ETH to Base and minted 400 Patron NFTs. These were part of Truemarkets’ fair launch, which allocates a significant portion of its TRUE token supply to Patron holders.

Despite these developments, the NFT market continues to face headwinds. Data from 2024 shows that 98% of NFT collections saw little trading activity, with only 0.2% of projects turning a profit. 

Notably, many NFTs lost over half their value shortly after launch, underscoring challenges for both creators and investors.

Meanwhile, Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, recently created a commemorative NFT to celebrate its 1 billion transaction milestone. However, the platform faced significant allegations of copying artist Chris Biron’s work. 

Base responded by pledging the NFT proceeds to Biron and promising stricter oversight for future projects.

The market uptrend sparked by Donald Trump’s November 5 US presidential election victory has entered its third week. Increased trading activity has pushed many major cryptocurrencies to new all-time highs, while lower-cap tokens have seen sharp value spikes, delivering significant gains to traders.

Crypto whales have also taken notice, increasing their accumulation of select assets. This week, their purchases included Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Leading meme coin Dogecoin is one of the altcoins crypto whales bought this week. The spike in its large holders’ netflow during the review period confirms this. According to IntoTheBlock’s data, this has skyrocketed by 112% over the past seven days. 

Large holders refer to whale addresses that hold more than 0.1% of an asset’s circulating supply. Their netflow tracks the difference between the coins they buy and the amount they sell over a specific period. When this rises, whale addresses buy more coins. This is a bullish signal that suggests the likelihood of a sustained rally.

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is another crypto asset that has caught the attention of the whales this week. This has happened despite its consolidation between the $3,396 and $3,043 price range over the past 14 days. 

BeInCrypto’s assessment of ETH’s supply distribution reveals that, over the past seven days, whale addresses holding between 100,000 and 1,000,000 ETH have accumulated an additional 380,000 ETH, valued at $1.27 billion at current market prices.

As of this writing, the altcoin trades at $3,342. If the whales continue to pour money into this altcoin, its price may rally toward $3,500 in the near term.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Shiba Inu whales also showed up this week. According to Santiment, on November 14, the balance of addresses holding between 10,000 and 1,000,000 SHIB was 127 billion SHIB. 

As of this writing, this figure has rocketed to 129 billion SHIB. This means that this cohort of SHIB holders bought 2 billion SHIB during the seven-day period in review. If accumulation persists, the meme coin’s value may trend higher.