Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies rose Monday amid continued optimism over the approval of exchange-traded funds, with recent buoyancy across a wide range of tokens signaling that bullish sentiment is becoming entrenched.
The price of Bitcoin has risen 2% over the past 24 hours to above $37,250, shy of its recent peak near $38,000 notched last week but still around the highest levels since cryptos plunged into a bear market in May 2022. The largest digital asset has rallied more than 30% since early October, ending a multi-month period of subdued crypto trading activity and spurring calls for a new Bitcoin bull market.
“We’re entering a more bullish phase for Bitcoin and the rest of the digital asset market, and a lot of the short-sellers of late have really been caught off guard. Excitement over an approval of these spot Bitcoin ETFs is certainly providing a tremendous amount of momentum,” said Brian D. Evans, CEO of digital asset venture firm BDE Ventures.
Indeed, much of the momentum behind Bitcoin’s rally—which has helped it outperform the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500
—has been optimism that regulators will soon approve the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Such a fund would be expected to usher in a new wave of retail and institutional interest in digital assets and be supportive of prices.
But there are also signs that crypto traders are growing more broadly bullish on digital assets after more than a year of pain, with a number of smaller tokens or altcoins outperforming of late, including
Solana,
which has more than doubled in a month.
“I think this prolonged rally is also rooted in a market that has moved from a recovery phase to one that is poised to experience strong growth. A lot of strength shown of late by layer-2s and altcoins, notably Solana, are also indicative of this positive momentum shift,” said Evans.
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
—the second-largest crypto—gained 4% to $2,030. Altcoins were stronger, with
Cardano
climbing 5% and
Polygon
popping 4%. Memecoins also advanced, with
Dogecoin
up 3% and
Shiba Inu
2% higher.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com
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