Bitcoin eyes third weekly close above $60K as Ethereum fuels new altcoin market cap record

Bitcoin (BTC) preserved $61,000 into the weekend after “aggressive” buying on Coinbase sparked multi-day highs.

Coinbase BTC buyers step up

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD cooling overnight after briefly challenging $63,000.

Friday saw strong performance after U.S. traditional markets opened, helping lift Bitcoin to near its minimum monthly close target.

As analysts noted, major exchange Coinbase was the venue for heavy accumulation on the day.

Some aggressive BTC buying on Coinbase right now pic.twitter.com/sR1eMuF2ze

Popular trader and analyst Pentoshi meanwhile noted selling elsewhere, specifically from one whale whose BTC divesting has now hit over 1,000 BTC, each sold on the open market in batches of 20-30 BTC.

“Just goes to show how liquid this market is now,” he summarized.

Both the weekly and monthly close on Sunday will be a source of interest for market participants, with the latter seeing a potential all-time high. BTC/USD may also close its third week in a row above $60,000.

Altcoin market cap passes all-time highs

For many, however, it was all about altcoins as the weekend began.

Related: Altcoin Roundup: Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and memes are hauling the dogsled to mass adoption

Ethereum's Ether (ETH) hit new all-time highs on Friday, helping the overall altcoin market cap reach new peaks of its own — $1.473 trillion.

Strong performance remained elsewhere, with Shiba Inu (SHIB) steadying after its blistering gains throughout the week.