BTC smashes fresh $122k all-time high as altcoins eye breakout

Bitcoin’s parabolic rally isn’t cooling off, and the crypto market giant has powered through yet another major price level.

In the early hours of July 14, 2025, Bitcoin (BTC) surged to a new all-time high of $122,300, breaking above the $118,000 to $119,000 range. Up approximately 4% in the last 24 hours, the breakout adds to the strong streak of gains recorded over the past week.

Bitcoin has now spent five consecutive days in its current uptrend, climbing about 12% over that period. The rally is fueled by growing institutional demand and broader macro tailwinds that have more than pushed its price up more than 103% since this time last year.

Bitcoin’s price chart | Source: crypto.news

Among the key drivers of BTC’s surge are the U.S spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Over the past week, the ETFs recorded net inflows reaching $2.7 billion on strong demand and high trading volume, marking one of their strongest weeks yet.

The influx of funds fueled positive momentum for the crypto asset, supported by a steady wave of capital from a growing number of corporate players.. Recent geopolitical uncertainty and positive regulatory shifts have led more institutions to turn to the largest crypto asset as a safe haven, and this group of investors has pushed about $100 billion into Bitcoin so far.

More than 125 public corporate firms now collectively hold 847,000 BTC in treasury, around 4.03% of its total 21 million supply.

Bitcoin’s market cap now stands at $2.43 trillion, a 62.5% share of the $3.89 trillion total crypto market capitalization, which rose roughly 3.7% in the past day. Riding the momentum, the altcoin sector is starting to heat up. 

Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest crypto asset is up 2.9% over the past day, trading slightly over $3,000 at the time of writing. Beyond ETH are even bigger gainers across the board, with tokens like Hedera (HBAR), Algorand (ALGO), and PENGU (PENGU) posting gains above 25%.

Analysts have noted that a Bitcoin breakout into the $120,000 level will mark the start of a breakout for altcoins, and the recent surge is fueling predictions that the long-awaited altcoin season may finally be near. Echoing the sentiment, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes recently shared that the ongoing market uptick will open the doors to a “monster alt season,” forecasting that the asset class will outperform Bitcoin in the next phase of the market cycle.