DeFi tokens lead the market higher as Bitcoin price searches for momentum

DeFi tokens take center stage as top lending protocols AAVE, Maker and Compound establish new all-time highs.

Several DeFi tokens saw their prices breakout on Feb. 4 as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) prices traded sideways for the day. Aside from the general bullish trend permeating the DeFi sector, positive comments from big-name investors touting the benefits of blockchain technology and DeFi appear to be lifting sentiment throughout the sector.

Currently, Bitcoin price is still struggling to reclaim the $38,000 level and according to Cointelegraph analyst Marcel Pechman, top traders may have added to their short positions as BTC rallied toward $38,000 on Feb. 3.

*Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source:* *Coin360*

Elon Musk made waves again as his “DOGE” tweet resulted in a sharp volume spike which sent Dogecoin (DOGE) into a 48% rally to $0.054. XRP price also broke out, rallying 12.45% to a daily high at $0.4365.

Universal Market Access (UMA) saw its price explode by 158% to reach a new all-timeat $44.25 before correcting to its current value of $33.13. Decentralized exchange liquidity provider 0x (ZRX) also spiked 70% to a new 2021 high at $1.35.

*AAVE vs. MKR vs. COMP percentage growth 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

DeFi lending platforms AAVE, Compound (COMP) and Maker (MKR) all established new all-time highs as their prices have spiked 46.68%, 36.6% and 22.69% respectively.

Traditional markets rally higher

Traditional markets also caught a boost as stocks saw their fourth straight day of gains led by tech stocks like eBay (EBAY), which saw its price increase by 5%, and PayPal (PYPL) whose shares rallied 7%.

The S&P 500, Dow and NASDAQ all closed the day well into the green, up 1.09%, 1.08% and 1.23% respectively.

DeFi attracts mainstream attention

Increased attention from business leaders like Mark Cuban and institutions such as Grayscale Investments has brought increased attention to the crypto sector and also highlights the rapidly increasing involvement of traditional finance in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

*BTC/USD daily chart. Source:* *Coin360*

With MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor offering a ‘Bitcoin Bootcamp’ to more than 1,400 publicly traded companies over the past 2 days, the recent price movements and increased trading volume seen today could be the start of wider adoption and increased inflows into Bitcoin and the emerging DeFi ecosystem.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.13 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 60.9%.