Bitcoin nears $50k in latest crypto market rally

By Motolani Oseni

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, is trading near $50,000, its highest since Dec 2021, while Ether has gained 2.3 per cent, trading at $2,560.90.

The rally in the crypto market space was supported by strong demand for exchange-traded funds.

Just a week ago, the price of bitcoin hovered just above the $42,000 mark; however, since then, most liquidated leveraged positions have been short, according to Kooner.

The latest rally pushed by exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows and signs of institutional accumulation is expected to keep BTC at the current level due to positive sentiment.

Earlier on Monday, the largest crypto was hovering around $48,000 earlier during the day before experiencing a sudden spike to $49,800 at the beginning of the U.S. trading session.

At press time, BTC was changing hands slightly above $49,777, up nearly two per cent over the past 24 hours and outperforming the broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index’s (CD20) minor, 0.2 per cent decline.

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The price action is supported by last week’s strong inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs, attracting over $1.1 billion net fresh funds amid slowing outflows from incumbent funds such as Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GGBTC and ProShares’ futures-based ETF, asset management firm CoinShares reported Monday.

However, potential selling pressure from Genesis, a crypto lender under bankruptcy protection, liquidating its $1.6 billion worth of GBTC holdings could weigh on ETF net inflows and prices in the next months.