Bitcoin Hits $44,000 Following GDP, Jobless Claims Data; PancakeSwap Emerges As Top Gainer

Bitcoin BTC/USD traded higher, with the cryptocurrency prices surging past the key $44,000 level on Thursday.

Ethereum ETH/USD also moved higher, trading above the key $2,200 mark this morning.

PancakeSwap CAKE/USD was the top gainer over the prior 24 hours, while Helium HNT/USD turned out to be the biggest loser.

U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 205,000 in the week ending Dec. 16, compared to market expectations of 215,000. The U.S. economy grew an annualized 4.9% in the third quarter, down from 5.2% in the second estimate, but matching the 4.9% reading in the advance estimate.

At the time of writing, the global crypto market cap rose to $1.65 trillion, recording a 24-hour gain of 2.4%. BTC was trading higher by 2.7% at $44,004 while ETH rose by around 1.9% to $2,251 on Thursday.

Here are the top ten crypto gainers and losers over the past 24 hours:

Gainers

PancakeSwap CAKE/USD
Price: $2.57
24-hour gain: 16.9%

NEAR Protocol NEAR/USD
Price: $3.37
24-hour gain: 16.3%

Solana SOL/USD
Price: $87.49
24-hour gain: 13.5%

Neo NEO/USD
Price: $14.61
24-hour gain: 12.9%

Fantom FTM/USD
Price: $0.4658
24-hour gain: 9.3%

Losers

Helium HNT/USD
Price: $8.05
24-hour drop: 12.3%

WOO Network WOO/USD
Price: $0.4386
24-hour drop: 5.4%

Injective INJ/USD
Price: $40.04
24-hour drop: 5.1%

Internet Computer ICP/USD
Price: $8.94
24-hour drop: 3.6%

Celestia TIA/USD
Price: $12.80
24-hour drop: 2.8%

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