Bitcoin Hits New All-Time High Above $69,000 - Unchained

Bitcoin Hits New All-Time High Above $69,000 – Unchained

Time Stamp: March 5, 2024 10:43 AM
Source Node: 2504568

Bitcoin has hit a fresh all-time high above $69,000 amid record levels of open interest and heightened trading volume on Tuesday.

The approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. has been the main driving force behind bitcoin’s recent surge.

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Posted March 5, 2024 at 10:43 am EST.

The price of bitcoin briefly hit a new all-time high of $69,325 on Coinbase on Tuesday morning. It settled below that mark soon after, recently trading up 2% over the last 24 hours to $67,940, an impressive gain of 203% over the last year. Bitcoin’s previous high of just above $69,000 was reached in Nov. 2021. 

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov said he expects that this latest move could be the start of an even bigger surge for the world’s largest and oldest cryptocurrency.

“Bitcoin’s price often reaches new highs that are not just small bumps, but large leaps beyond the previous records,” Nazarov told Unchained in an email. “This suggests that we may be at the beginning of a new positive market cycle for bitcoin. When bitcoin’s price surges, it attracts more capital to the ecosystem, which fuels innovation and development within the space.”

The price action comes amid a period of heightened volatility as open interest in futures markets for both bitcoin and ether reached record highs—a signal that trading activity is now matching levels last seen in 2021. 

Funding rates, which represent the difference in spot price of an asset and the price of bitcoin perpetual futures, crossed 100% for the first time in a year on Binance. Typically, high funding trades are indicative of greater interest in long trades on leverage, and implies traders are largely bullish in the current market.

The approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January has largely been the driving force behind the enhanced interest in the space. So far, the 10 funds have seen close to $8 billion worth of net inflows, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity Investments’ Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) accounting for nearly 80% of all inflows.

Bullish Projections

Bitcoin’s trajectory over the last few weeks makes some analysts’ wild price predictions seem less out of reach. In January, Standard Chartered shared a revised price target for bitcoin over $200,000 by the end of 2025. 

It is worth noting that the last time bitcoin broke its previous cycle’s all-time high, the price of the asset more than tripled in 103 days. If history were to repeat itself, this would put bitcoin’s price at $213,000 this June. 

While bitcoin’s price has now officially in the same territory as the last bull market, some industry watchers believe that the full effects haven’t taken shape just yet after comparing data across cycles.

“Data on our platform suggests we aren’t yet in full ‘bull’ market. While activity, logins, trading is up, we aren’t yet near 2021 data. Do with that information what you will,” said Caroline Bowler from BTC Markets.

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