Proactive Investors - Bitcoin is currently more than 100% higher year to date following the benchmark cryptocurrency’s impressive October bull run.
The tailwinds have mainly consisted of hype surrounding the prospect of US regulators finally being strongarmed into approving spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Some hype has been built on shaky grounds, such as BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF ticker appearing on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.’s website.
The DTCC proceeded to pour cold water on the market, stating that a listing is “not indicative of an outcome for any outstanding regulatory or other approval processes” but merely “standard practice... in preparation for the launch of a new ETF”.
Nonetheless, the prospect an approval for either BalckRock’s or Grayscale’s long-running ETF ambitions is real.
Such a move would bring the world’s largest cryptocurrency onto the US capital markets, where traders will have the opportunity to invest in the asset class in a traditional manner.
Trading volumes have since ratcheted higher, and in the past seven days alone, bitcoin has shot up over 22% against the US dollar.
Though this Thursday’s early trades have been relatively subdued, the BTC/USDT pair has managed to hold into Wednesday’s 1.7% add and was swapping for more than $34,600 at the time of writing.
Bitcoin is around 18% higher over six months – Source: tradingview.com
Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, has been trending in the right direction, though to a lesser extent than bitcoin.
However, this morning saw the ETH/USDT pair breach the 200-day moving average trend line for the first time in seven months, a move that evidently galvanised the ether bulls.
At the time of writing, ETH/USDT had gained 1.3% in early trades to shoot above the $1,800 price point.
In the broader blue-chip altcoin space, Solana (SOL) remains the greatest benefactor of the recent crypto rally, having added a tidy 37% in the past seven days.
Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA) and Dogecoin (DOGE) have also posted double-digit gains.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at $1.26 trillion, with bitcoin dominance at more than 54%.