Bitcoin’s rally continued on Wednesday after a brief drop from its all-time high set less than 24 hours earlier. Bulls showed no signs of pulling their bets on the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Bitcoin surged 5% during the Asian session to an intraday peak of $66,540 in volatile trading, not too far from Tuesday’s record high of $69,202. It was last 4% higher at $65,946. Investors have poured money into U.S. spot exchange-traded crypto products, and the prospect that global interest rates may fall has fueled the digital asset’s meteoric rise.
The outlook also includes an ethereum upgrade and bitcoin “halving,” which slows the flow of bitcoin minting, according to Lennix Lai, global chief commercial officer at crypto exchange OKX. The approval of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in late January marked a watershed moment for the industry, following an 18-month long crypto winter plagued by a string of high-profile corporate bankruptcies and scandals. Even institutional investors who once shunned the token due to its sharp and wild moves have begun committing long-term money, which experts say could help sustain the latest leg of its rally. The recent optimism over bitcoin has also spilled over to its counterparts, with ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, similarly up more than 60% for the year. It was last 6.4% higher at $3,750. However, some say it’s hard to shake off the speculative nature of these assets.
After hitting the record high on Tuesday, bitcoin sharply reversed course and fell more than 10% back below the $60,000 level. “That looks like classic bitcoin behavior – it chews you up then spits you back out,” said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index. “A pump and dump to previous record highs wiped out some weaker hands, and I suspect we’re now in the volatile and erratic phase we usually see when it reaches a record high.”