BTC price chart. Source: Coingecko.com
Traders pushed the price of bitcoin (BTC) considerably higher in the market today, even before a new executive order from US President Joe Biden laid out plans for what was seen as a positive approach to assets. digital. Additionally, improving sentiment pushed US stock futures higher, which also helped BTC.
The gains at time of writing (14:20 UTC) saw the bitcoin price rise more than 8% in the last 24 hours, reaching a high for the day of just over €42,500 before the start of April, a slight pullback. . The price is still down 5% in a week.
The bitcoin price surge occurred even before the Biden administration announced its long-awaited executive order on digital assets, which observers have generally described as pro-innovation.
According to Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of crypto payments company Circle, the order was “a watershed moment for cryptocurrencies” in the US, while FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he described it as "constructive." to discuss customer protection and economic competitiveness of digital assets.
Supporting the rally in bitcoin prices, futures for the US S&P 500 stock index also pointed to a strong opening on Wall Street. Meanwhile, gold pulled back from its high of €2070 yesterday, trading just below the €2000 mark at the time of writing (1420 UTC).
Today's stock market gains followed sharp losses earlier this week as the war in Ukraine, sanctions and a sharp rise in energy prices weighed on investor confidence.
Today's gains also come ahead of US inflation data for February due tomorrow. Analysts expect the consumer price index (CPI) to come in at 7,9% year-on-year, down from 7,5% in the previous month, which already marked the highest rate of inflation in 40 years.
Commenting on the current state of the bitcoin market, Travis Kling, founder and chief investment officer of cryptocurrency-focused asset manager Ikigai, said there was “significant demand” for BTC in the $30 region since last summer. .
He added that the group still holding BTC at the current level is “more inclined towards idealistic bulls,” while identifying $38,000-39,000 as “an important level” for the coin.
“Unequivocally, Bitcoin's value proposition has become more compelling over the last month, not less,” Kling said.
Unsurprisingly, a sharp rise in the price of bitcoin over the past 24 hours has prompted a wave of liquidations from traders holding short leveraged positions in bitcoin futures.
According to data from Coinglass, $62,67 million in short BTC positions were liquidated on exchanges between midnight and noon UTC time on Wednesday, when the price of bitcoin soared.
For the entire crypto market, short liquidations reached €115 million, with nearly 44% of liquidations seen on the OKX exchange.
Bitcoin futures settlements before 12 pm: