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Bitcoin's price rose at the start of the week, approaching an all-time high after the rally stalled over the weekend.
The major cryptocurrency recently rose 3.7% to $65,127.00, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $65,606.17, its highest level since November 2021. Ethereum advanced 1% to $3,508.24.
Both currencies are coming off their best week in almost a year (Bitcoin gained about 21% and Ethereum 16%) but paused their run over the weekend as the market absorbed two days of sharp outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF that were offset by inflows into ETFs. Other “fledgling” Bitcoin ETFs.
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Bitcoin is heading towards all-time highs
“With the birth of the nine new ETFs, the big moves now tend to happen during the regular trading week rather than on weekends,” said Anthony Trenchev, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Nexo. “What we are witnessing today… could be a repeat of what happened early last week when Bitcoin rose by $10,000 in the space of two days. We are in the kind of environment where a day or two of sideways consolidation can precede explosive price action thanks to voracious demand for… These new spot ETFs.
Investors were very keen to see Bitcoin approaching all-time highs. At $65,000, it's roughly 6% off November 2021's intraday record of $68,982.20.
Some analysts have suggested that although it may continue to rise in the short-term, Bitcoin may cool off in the next few weeks, as unrealized profit margins approach extreme levels. The real price of Bitcoin is only about $42,700, according to CryptoQuant.
However, long-term investors are confident that the combination of rising demand for Bitcoin through new US exchange-traded funds and expected supply tightening following the April halving event will push the price of Bitcoin to a new all-time high.
Cryptocurrencies also received a slight showing from the stock market, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hitting an all-time high on Friday, becoming the latest major stock index to reach a record closing high this year. Although March may be a month of side-grinding for Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency is benefiting from a productivity boom driven by artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, which he expects to continue, said David Dong, head of institutional research at Coinbase.
Moves for large-cap cryptocurrencies on Monday were more modest, despite inflation in the prices of small coins, especially meme coins. Dogecoin jumped 5%, while Shiba Inu rose 15%. Analysts point to their performance as evidence that retail investors, who were absent from much of the recent cryptocurrency rally, are starting to return to the cryptocurrency market.
Cryptocurrency stocks rode the Bitcoin wave. Coinbase and Microstrategy rose 6% and 9% respectively in pre-market trading on Monday. In the mining group, CleanSpark jumped more than 8%, Marathon Digital traded about 7% higher, Iris Energy advanced 5.5%, and Riot Platforms added 4%.
