Encouraged by inflows into new U.S. spot bitcoin exchange traded products, which have pushed it up almost 40% in February, bitcoin climbed for a fifth day on Wednesday, approaching $60,000, marking its greatest monthly advance since December 2020.
The most recent price of bitcoin was $59,244, up 4.5% from November 2021.

Ahead of the April halving event, which is intended to halt the creation of the cryptocurrency, traders have flocked into bitcoin. Additionally, investors’ thirst for riskier or higher-yielding assets has been fueled by the possibility that the Federal Reserve could lower interest rates multiple times this year.

“Bitcoin is being driven by the support of consistent inflows into the new spot ETFs and outlook for April’s halving event and June’s Fed interest rate cuts,” Ben Laidler, global markets strategist at retail investment platform eToro, said.

According to cryptocurrency platform CoinGecko, the total value of bitcoin in circulation surpassed $2 trillion this month for the first time in two years, and the token’s price has doubled in only four months.

There has been a noticeable increase in interest this week in the larger bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Trading volumes have increased at the three most well-known, operated by Grayscale, Fidelity, and BlackRock (IBIT.O), opens new tab.

According to LSEG data, on Monday and Tuesday, over 110 million shares in the top three exchanged, or almost 51% of the 215 million shares traded in the three most valued companies on the market: Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia.

This number was closer to 15% three weeks ago.

“Essentially, we’re seeing the ETF effect ahead of schedule. Inflows into them stepped up quickly last week and have been sustained, and we think it’s reflective of advisors getting out there very quickly to start selling the ETFs to clients,” Joseph Edwards, head of research at Enigma Securities, said.

According to LSEG statistics, the top ten spot bitcoin ETFs saw inflows of $420 million on Tuesday alone, the highest amount in nearly two weeks.

Earlier this week, cryptocurrency investor and software company MicroStrategy revealed that it had recently purchased roughly 3,000 bitcoins for $155 million. Additionally, social media network Reddit revealed in a regulatory filing that it had purchased minor sums of ether and bitcoin.

The Ethereum blockchain network is powered by ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world, which increased 2.2% to $3,320 after reaching a two-year high earlier in the day. The price has increased by 47% in February, marking the largest monthly gain since a July 2022 jump of 70%.

Approved applications for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on spot ether are anticipated by a few investors in the US.

According to Edwards of Enigma Securities, the run higher felt rather solid.

“There certainly isn’t a manic feeling to who’s buying and why – ether gaining against the field also speaks to a more measured environment – but there’s at least a little FOMO (fear of missing out) going on right now,” he said.

(Adapted from ThePrint.com)

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