Bitcoin
Bitcoin Price Hits $70,000 and Cryptocurrency Settlements Reach $235 Million
Bitcoin It surpassed the $70,000 mark for the first time in over a month since April 12. price of the largest digital asset is now at $70,225 per coin, data from CoinGecko shows, jumping 6% in 24 hours. And as a result, cryptocurrency liquidations are on the rise, with shorts dominating the carnage.
The asset’s rise comes with investors again flood the newly approved location Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) with money after weeks of departures. Data released on Monday showed that nearly $1 billion reached the new funds, which give investors exposure to the biggest digital asset.
The flurry of investments comes after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics last week showed that inflation was not as high as expected in April in a report.
People invest in assets like Bitcoin if inflation is low, because that means the Federal Reserve will be more likely to cut interest rates – which are at a 23-year high.
The rise of cryptocurrency today means that the price of most other coins and tokens is skyrocketing. Traders betting on the fall in the price of digital assets are therefore having their positions liquidated: in the last 24 hours, more than US$235 million in positions were closed, data from CoinGlass show.
About $63 million of that number is in Bitcoin short positions alone, part of the total $173 million in cryptocurrencies liquidated in the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin in March reached a new all-time high of $73,737. It is now just 5% below that level. The currency’s run appears to be mainly due to new Bitcoin ETFs, which trade on traditional exchanges and allow investors to buy shares that track the asset’s price.
However, there may also be residual effects of sudden price increase than Ethereum also experienced on Monday afternoon, amid renewed speculation from analysts that an SEC approval for spot Ethereum ETFs is likely to happen this week.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment or other advice.