In brief
- Solana led majors with 8.1% gains as total liquidations hit $324M
- Nvidia faces a $65.7 billion revenue forecast as traders wait for the earnings calls.
- Analyst warns structural bear market remains despite short-term rally
Cryptocurrencies including Polkadot, Solana, Bittensor, and Uniswap led a broad altcoin rally Wednesday ahead of Nvidia’s highly anticipated earnings report, with the tech-focused bounce extending across major tokens.
Among the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap, Polkadot led with gains of 11.5% in the past 24 hours, while Solana jumped 8.1%, “AI-proxy” token Bittensor rose 6.8% and high-beta major coin Uniswap gained 7.7%, per CoinGecko data.
The move was mirrored across the “big-cap” landscape, with leading altcoins such as Avalanche and World Liberty Financial posting gains of over 6%, pushing the total crypto market cap up 3.7% to $2.34 trillion.
The surge liquidated over $325 million in positions across the market, according to CoinGlass data.
While the timing aligns with a broader relief in equities, Andri Fauzan Adziima, Research Lead at Bitrue, told Decrypt the move is a cocktail of “institutional dip-buying, short liquidations, and easing tariff fears,” rather than a direct bet on Nvidia’s specific balance sheet.
The rally comes as traders position for Nvidia’s fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter earnings, due after Wednesday’s close. The chipmaker has become a bellwether for AI-driven tech sentiment, with implications that increasingly spill into crypto markets.
The earnings release lands one day after the State of the Union address, around the same time as Bitcoin surged over $2,000, Decrypt previously reported.
“This is the single most important catalyst in the window,” Derek Lim, head of research at Caladan, told Decrypt. “The entire equity market, and crypto by extension, was positioning around this event.”
He expects Nvidia to report revenue of approximately $65.7 billion, a 67% increase year-over-year.
“So when the most consequential earnings print of the quarter lands the day after a speech, tbh the speech should be viewed as the secondary event,” he said, adding that, “Equity flows, options positioning, and risk sentiment in the 48 hours around the SOTU were oriented toward Nvidia, NOT toward policy rhetoric.”
Lim added that Bitcoin’s price action during the speech window was “likely more Nvidia-driven than speech-driven.”
Despite the immediate rally, broader market conditions remain precarious, according to Augustine Fan, Partner and Head of Insights at SignalPlus.
“We remain mired in a structural bear market and are in desperate need for a new narrative to rescue us from this downtrend, but that seems to be a tall ask at the moment,” Fan told Decrypt. “Support comes in at the mid-$55,000 area, while we would need a short squeeze to take us back above $74k before technicals start to improve. Path of resistance remains for lower prices in the meantime.”
Fan added that the current rebound followed a period of oversold conditions across both crypto and equities.
“The trend continued into today on the back of a further short squeeze, in addition to anticipation of Nvidia earnings as well as some month-end buying against the lowered equity prices.” He noted that upcoming Federal Reserve speakers are “expected to be supportive of markets, with rates traders already pricing in rate cuts well into 2027.”
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
