BITCOIN rose to the highest in more than two years, climbing above US$54,000, amid growing optimism that persistent investor demand through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will drive the price of the largest cryptocurrency back to record levels.
“Bitcoin continues its ascent, supported by strong ETF inflows,” said Spencer Hallarn, global head of over-the-counter trading at crypto investment firm GSR.
The original digital currency increased as much as 5.2 per cent to US$54,438 after trading in a narrow range for more than a week. It last traded at this level in December 2021, and reached an all-time high of almost US$69,000 the prior month.
Investors have poured more than US$5 billion into nine ETFs that began trading last month. That figure takes into account the US$7.4 billion that has been withdrawn during the same period from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which was converted from a trust.
“Bitcoin is approaching new yearly highs off the back of increased spot demand and momentum traders taking positions off the back of a breakout after a week of consolidation,” said Chris Newhouse, a DeFi analyst at Cumberland Labs. “Interestingly enough, liquidations are not too excessive for the current price action, and shorts who were liquidated were quickly replaced with leveraged longs.”
The open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts, for perpetual Bitcoin futures has seen a noticeable increase, Newhouse said. At the same time, short positions have been forced to be closed in the latest rally. That may be the result of fresh long positions in the market, he said.
Adding to the optimism around Bitcoin was another large purchase of the tokens by MicroStrategy. The enterprise software firm, which has made buying Bitcoin as part of its corporate strategy, said on Monday (Feb 26) that it purchased another 3,000 or so of the cryptocurrency tokens this month for US$155.4 million. It owns about US$10 billion in Bitcoin.
Shares of MicroStrategy jumped around 14 per cent, while other crypto-relate stocks also rallied. Coinbase Global rose 14 per cent and Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital jumped almost 20 per cent.
Other cryptocurrencies followed suit, with tokens for Solana and Poly each rising more than 5 per cent. Ether, the second-biggest digital asset, gained about 2 per cent. BLOOMBERG
