Bitcoin (BTC) was back on the front foot on Wednesday, surging 6.5% in the strongest daily trading session for the market’s premier cryptocurrency in more than two weeks.
The rally confidently took back losses accrued following four straight days of red candlesticks and once again tested the prized $38,000 price point.
Bitcoin ultimately hit a wall at $39,800, which has been the year-to-date high so far, and has since retraced back to $37,300 in Thursday’s opening trades.
Year-to-date performance is up 126% for bitcoin – Source: tradingview.com
Hope is mounting for another Santa rally on the way, especially with the tantalising prospect of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) soon to be approved.
If the US regulators, specifically the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), were to give the nod for these investment products, it could precipitate a considerable groundswell of institutional investment into the benchmark cryptocurrency.
However, though approval is becoming more likely, there are still roadblocks in the way.
Ark Invest founder Cathie Wood donned her tinfoil hat on CNBC’s Squawk Box programme to consider whether SEC head Gary Gensler is blocking the progress of these applications as a precursor to applying for the US Treasury Secretary position.
Wood also predicted a $25 trillion cryptocurrency market by 2030, dominated by just bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH).
“This regulatory breakthrough is very important,” says @ARKinvest Founder, CEO and CIO @CathieDWood. “Our expectation is that the crypto ecosystem will be dominated [by Ether and Bitcoin] and it will scale from more than $1 trillion today to $25 trillion in 2030.” pic.twitter.com/yWqwiMA5hV
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) November 14, 2023
That is all speculation for now, though the cryptocurrency markets are definitely in a bullish position in the short term.
Ethereum (ETH) shot up 4% on Wednesday, shooting above $2,000 after losing ground earlier in the week.
At the time of writing, the ETH/USDT pair was swapping for $2,045.
In the broader altcoin space, Solana (SOL) took off like a rocket, steaming 20% higher to hit a new 18-month high.
Solana (SOL) has been a true winner in the large-cap altcoin space in 2023, having rallied a walloping 550%.
Avalanche (AVAX) has also emerged from the doldrums, ratcheting up 23% on Wednesday and another 18% this morning to bring the AVAX/USDT spot price to a year-to-date high of $23.47.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation shot up 4.5% overnight to $1.44 trillion, with bitcoin dominance sitting above 52%.