Bitcoin surged past the $60,000 mark for the first time in over two years and three months, experiencing a 6% increase in the 24 hours leading up to 1:00 pm UTC. It reached $60,001 on Binance at 1:11 pm UTC. According to CoinMarketCap data, the cryptocurrency has seen a weekly gain of over 13% and a monthly increase of 37%. The last instance of Bitcoin trading above $60,000 was on Nov. 12, 2021, before experiencing a reversal and dropping more than 67% to reach a macro low of $19,297 in early April 2022.
Bitcoin’s price performance can largely be attributed to the market anticipation surrounding the upcoming halving event, which historically leads to increased buying activity, according to Bryan Legend, investor and CEO of Hectic Labs.
He said:
“Investors expect a reduction in supply to drive up prices. This is better known as the ‘Pre-Halving rally’ which contributes to a new bull market with a refreshed bullish sentiment. This is exactly what we are seeing today.”
However, as per the crypto analyst known as Rekt Capital, there is still a possibility of a “pre-halving retracement.” The analyst, who remains pseudonymous, also suggested that the market has not yet priced in the upcoming Bitcoin halving. Historical market data suggests that noteworthy Bitcoin movements have traditionally followed prior halving events rather than preceding them. Rekt Capital shared this insight in a post on the X platform on February 28.
Here’s Why the Bitcoin Halving Is NOT Priced In
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) February 27, 2024
If you enjoyed this 1-minute summary on #BTC
Checkout the full video here:https://t.co/jxduExhrTu
Enjoy and Subscribe!$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/UrWxbMA7iK
Bitcoin’s upward momentum follows the record-breaking performance of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, which achieved an all-time high daily trading volume of $2.4 billion on February 26. This information comes from Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg.
For the second consecutive day on February 28, the nine Bitcoin ETFs in the market achieved a total trading volume exceeding $2 billion. On February 27, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) saw a significant increase in individual trades, reaching over 100,000, compared to its usual daily average ranging from 30,000 to 60,000 trades. This information was shared in a post by Balchunas on X.
Another intense volume day for the Nine with well over $2b traded. $IBIT broke its personal record again w/ $1.3b (for context that's more than most large cap US stocks trade). I don't know if this is a new normal or some kind of short-term algo/arb-related burst a la $HODL. pic.twitter.com/KkCkdQKe9r
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 27, 2024
Around 75% of recent Bitcoin investments originated from spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, as reported by CryptoQuant, an on-chain data analytics firm, on February 14th.
