Ether briefly surpassed $4,000 for the first time since December 2021.
Bitcoin has broken through to an all-time high, trading above $70,000 early Friday.
However, this milestone did not last long. BTC fell from its intraday high of $70,168 to $67,045 in a matter of minutes, highlighting the notorious volatility that characterizes this asset.
Despite today's roller coaster, Bitcoin is on an unstoppable upward trend driven by two major events: the Spot Bitcoin ETF and the upcoming halving.
Bitcoin ETFs received inflows in seven weeks that took gold ETFs three years, according to Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg. Nine ETF providers collectively manage more than $50 billion in assets. owns 4% Out of a total supply of 21 million Bitcoins.
Bitcoin analyst Dylan LeClair noted today that by 11 a.m. ET, trading volume for BlackRock's IBIT fund had already surpassed its March 2007 trading volume. “Patience, degens. They come with literally tens of billions of dollars,” he wrote.
Balciunas echoed his views, highlighting some truly impressive numbers and claiming that “there is something in the water again.” The 10 Bitcoin ETFs are on pace to exceed $10 billion in trading volume on Tuesday, with BlackRock trading at $1 billion per hour. “A billion a day is the level of the big guys,” he says.
The second event is halving, scheduled for mid-April. Typically, Bitcoin begins to rise before an event as market participants anticipate a reduction in available supply, but this cycle's rally, albeit fueled by ETFs, has been much more It was dramatic.
Notably, this is the first time Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high before a halving.
What some are calling “quantitative hardening” is scheduled to occur around April 16th.
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Overall market volatility
Most major digital assets have seen wild price fluctuations.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, had a brief moment of brilliance today, topping $4,000 for the first time since December 2021. Although it rose a few dollars above that level, it fell to $3,883 minutes later.
Ether has gained a whopping 65% over the past month, outperforming Bitcoin by nearly 10%.
Promoting factors for ETH include the impending Dencun upgrade and possible approval of the Spot ETH ETF, which the financial firm is preparing to file with the SEC. Other indicators were also shining brightly, with DefiLlama reporting that total DeFi locks exceeded $100 billion for the first time since May 2022, but have since fallen to $96 billion.
While some may be suffering from bear market PTSD, all signs point to a healthy bull market. According to CoinGecko, since February 1st, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market has increased by $1 trillion.
Meme coins are another indicator of cryptocurrency market sentiment. Solana-based tokens have received the most attention from traders and they are gaining popularity.
In fact, four of the top five categories with the highest growth over the past seven days are related to memes. These include cat-themed tokens, dog-themed subdivided NFTs, and meme coins.
While the bull market is clearly continuing, some are quick to point out how traders' attitudes can thwart easy profits.
Scott Melker, a popular crypto trader, said, “Maybe if these perverts stopped going long with historically high funding rates and 100x leverage, we'd see a flash every time Bitcoin hits a high.'' will no longer occur.”
