Bitcoin (BTC) appears to have more gas left in the tank in the pre-ETF bull run.
The benchmark cryptocurrency rocketed nearly 7% higher to a fresh 22-month high on Monday in the best daily session since last October.
Despite falling back half a percentage point in this morning’s opening trades, the BTC/USD pair remains exceptionally well placed at $46,740.
Bitcoin bulls are ramping up their purchases in anticipation of the first spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) getting regulatory approval to list on the US stock exchange.
The likes of BlackRock Inc (NYSE:NYSE:BLK), Fidelity and Grayscale have been fighting tooth and nail to get their applications approved through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with a ruling widely expected this week.
The SEC still has the power to delay or even shoot down the applications, though the market is clearly betting on a win.
Approval of these ETF applications could provide a substantial uplift in bitcoin’s price, although investors should be wary of a sell-the-news situation, given the level of hype already baked into bitcoin’s spot price.
Bitcoin is over 170% higher year on year – Source: tradingview.com
Bitcoin’s stellar Monday rally culminated in a washout for short-bitcoin positions on the futures market, with some $90 million in short positions liquidated before the session’s close.
In the wake of bitcoin’s solid rally, Ethereum (ETH)’s spot price flew 5% higher too. At the time of writing, the ETH/USD pair was trading slightly above $2,300.
Solana (SOL) took the lead in the wider altcoin space, adding more than 12% overnight, while Avalanche (AVAX) also posted double-digit gains.
Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Binance’s BNB token and Dogecoin (DOGE) all posted single-digit gains.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at $1.73 trillion, with bitcoin dominance pushing upwards of 54.5%.