Cryptocurrency markets experienced upward momentum on Monday, with bitcoin surpassing the $67,000 mark, alleviating concerns about a significant downturn.

Following its quadrennial halving event over the weekend, which halved the rate of new bitcoin issuance, the leading cryptocurrency saw a modest increase of over 3% in the past 24 hours, reaching a recent price of $66,500. Meanwhile, Ether remained relatively stable around $3,200, showing a more modest 1.5% gain over the same period.

The positive movement extended to stocks of companies focused on digital assets, with shares of crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) and MicroStrategy (MSTR) both posting gains of 7% and 12%, respectively.

Publicly traded mining companies like Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Hut 8 (HUT) saw even more significant surges, ranging from 15% to 20%, while Marathon Digital (MARA) experienced a 6% increase during the day. This boost came after a surge in transaction fees, which have become increasingly important as a revenue source for miners, leading to optimism about improved financial performance for these companies.

Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, expressed caution in an interview with CoinDesk TV, suggesting that bitcoin’s halving is not necessarily a bullish event and predicting potential market weakness in the coming months, possibly leading to a deeper correction. He pointed to miners selling off their bitcoin holdings, estimated at $5 billion, to maintain operational stability in the face of reduced revenue.

Despite short-term concerns, historical data suggests that bitcoin typically experiences a significant price increase 50-100 days after each halving event, according to a market update from crypto hedge fund QCP Capital. This insight provides a window of opportunity for bullish traders to establish larger long positions in anticipation of future gains.

Additionally, QCP Capital highlighted a cooling off in funding rates for leveraged derivatives trading, with some smaller cryptocurrencies even experiencing negative rates. This shift indicates the potential for a swift uptick in prices if market sentiment improves, particularly for altcoins and memecoins, which have seen persistent negative funding rates and could prompt short covering and renewed interest from leveraged long traders.