After adding almost 10% yesterday, Bitcoin (BTC) has continued to gain momentum to achieve a fresh high for 2023, briefly breaking above the US$25,000 mark.
Bitcoin had added 8.9% at US$24,818 in late-morning trading on Thursday.
Tickmill Group market analyst James Harte noted that Wednesday’s almost 10% rally marked the largest single-day increase for Bitcoin in more than six months, with many traders now looking for a fuller breakout beyond the US$24,930 level.
READ: Crypto stocks steam ahead thanks to Bitcoin rally
He noted that Bitcoin’s fresh 2023 highs came despite an uptick in US regulatory action against the crypto sector including exchanges and staking companies.
“Interestingly, the rally in BTC comes despite an increase in hawkish Fed expectations linked to a spate of better-than-forecast US data,” he added.
“With inflation seen bouncing back sharply last month there had been fears of a fresh leg lower for BTC but the market appears to have gone the other way.”
Harte noted that one key driver behind the fresh buying in the cryptocurrency was a surge in Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin network, which passed 100,000 on Tuesday.
“Some key names in the crypto space have been moving to Ordinals, such as the Solana NFT Collection, which is bolstering confidence and driving demand higher,” he said.
Bullish on Bitcoin
Looking ahead, Harte said the near-term outlook looked bullish for Bitcoin.
“Industry data reveals a sharp uptick in institutional inflows over recent days, reportedly circa $1.6 billion,” he said.
“Some of the accounts seen buying are known whales, suggesting BTC might be at the start of a fresh bull move as more capital returns to the market following the heavy outflows we saw last year.”
Contact the author at emily.jarvie@proactiveinvestors.com
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