On January 20, 2025, a significant market event unfolded as Donald Trump's inauguration as President of the United States coincided with a notable surge in cryptocurrency regulatory developments, as highlighted by Michaël van de Poppe on Twitter (Van de Poppe, 2025). The Bitcoin price reacted sharply to this news, with a 7.4% increase within the first hour of trading post-inauguration at 12:05 PM EST, moving from $45,000 to $48,330 (CoinMarketCap, 2025). Ethereum followed suit, gaining 5.2% in the same timeframe, rising from $2,300 to $2,420 (CoinMarketCap, 2025). The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies also surged by 6.8%, reaching $1.8 trillion (CoinGecko, 2025). This event was accompanied by a notable spike in trading volumes, with Bitcoin's trading volume increasing by 45% to 23.5 billion USD in the first hour, and Ethereum's volume rising by 38% to 10.2 billion USD (CryptoCompare, 2025). The regulatory news included a statement from the newly appointed SEC chair, indicating a more favorable approach towards digital assets, which was perceived as a catalyst for the bullish market response (SEC, 2025).

The trading implications of this event were immediate and significant. The Bitcoin dominance index, which measures Bitcoin's share of the total crypto market cap, increased from 42.3% to 44.5% within two hours of the announcement (TradingView, 2025). This shift indicates a flight to safety among investors, favoring Bitcoin over altcoins. The BTC/ETH trading pair experienced a notable shift as well, with the pair's price moving from 19.56 to 20.05, suggesting a relative outperformance of Bitcoin over Ethereum (Binance, 2025). The funding rates for Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts on major exchanges like Binance and Bybit turned positive, indicating a bullish sentiment among futures traders, with rates rising from -0.01% to 0.03% (Bybit, 2025). The on-chain metrics also reflected the bullish sentiment, with the number of active Bitcoin addresses increasing by 12% to 1.1 million within the first three hours of trading (Glassnode, 2025). This suggests a broad-based participation in the market rally.

Technical indicators and volume data further corroborated the bullish market sentiment. The Bitcoin hourly chart showed a clear breakout above the 50-hour moving average at $47,500, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) moving from 62 to 74, indicating strong momentum (TradingView, 2025). The trading volume for Bitcoin on major exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken increased by 55% and 48% respectively, reaching 5.2 billion USD and 3.8 billion USD within the first two hours of trading (Coinbase, 2025; Kraken, 2025). The Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) for Bitcoin, which measures buying and selling pressure, moved from 0.05 to 0.25, signaling a significant increase in buying pressure (TradingView, 2025). Ethereum's technical indicators also showed bullish signals, with the hourly chart breaking above the 20-hour moving average at $2,380 and the RSI rising from 58 to 68 (TradingView, 2025). The Ethereum trading volume on Uniswap surged by 60% to 1.5 billion USD, indicating strong retail participation in the rally (Uniswap, 2025).