Why are cryptocurrencies up today? Santa rally narrative picks up pace

• The crypto market has begun recovering from recent drawdowns last week.
• Recent price action points to a buy-side bias among active holiday traders who anticipate a crypto 'Santa rally.'
• Investors could be shifting attention toward altcoins this holiday season following increased inflows in Ethereum ETFs and altcoins' outperformance.

Bitcoin (BTC) and the overall cryptocurrency market rose by 5% on Tuesday as major assets are attempting to recover from the significant declines experienced last week. Altcoins have become the main focus of this market uptrend, suggesting that investor optimism may be driving the 'Santa rally.'

Altcoins lead market recovery as investors fuel Santa rally

The general crypto market is experiencing a rally on Christmas Eve, recovering from the recent market drawdown last week. Top assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Dogecoin, experienced a rebound fueled by increased buy-side pressure among holiday traders.

This shows that the market could be witnessing a 'Santa rally,' an event where cryptocurrencies rise during the final five trading sessions of a year through to the first two of January. Recent price actions on Tuesday suggest holiday traders are buying into the narrative.

Another reason for the price recovery could be expectations of the crypto market picking up its uptrend after the holidays come to a close.

This expectation may be tied to Donald Trump's inauguration as President of the US on January 20, which crypto market participants anticipate will lead to a massive rally.

Additionally, Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) witnessed inflows of $130.8 million on Monday despite Bitcoin ETFs posting $226.5 million in outflows, per Coinglass data. The huge contrast between these products shows investors are shifting attention toward altcoins this season.

This is evidenced in the double-digit gains seen across several altcoins, including Pudgy Penguins (PENGU), Hedera (HBAR), JasmyCoin (JASMY), Stellar (XLM), etc.

Altcoins 24h performance. Source: Coinmarketcap

A similar trend is also visible in the general stock market, which has been posting gains, indicating that traditional investors are also buying the Santa rally narrative.