Bitcoin Price Smashes $61.7K High — Leading Crypto Asset Needs to Gain Over 5% to Reach ATH

The price of bitcoin has continued to push toward higher prices as the leading crypto asset has tapped a high of $61,749 per unit on Friday. The crypto asset came awfully close (around 5.3% away) from tapping the all-time price high reached six months ago on April 14.

Bitcoin’s Bull Market Rampage Continues

Bitcoin (BTC) has done phenomenally well during the last two weeks as October has been a good month for the leading crypto asset. On October 15, 2021, BTC tapped a high of $61,430 per unit. The crypto asset is very close to reaching its all-time high of $64,804 per unit captured six months ago.

BTC’s market valuation this Friday is coasting along at $1.15 trillion and bitcoin is currently the eighth-most valuable asset worldwide. BTC market dominance has increased to 44.57% while ethereum (ETH) dominance stands at 17.6%.

Metrics show out of the $156 billion in global trading volume between all the coins in existence, BTC commands $46.5 billion of those trades. Tether (USDT) captures 55.9% of today’s BTC trades, followed by USD (16.28%), BUSD (5.44%), JPY (4.12%), EUR (3.77%), and KRW (2.72%).

Analysts Assume Spike Is Due to Rumors That a US Bitcoin ETF Will Be Approved

In a note sent to Bitcoin.com News, Etoro’s crypto asset analyst Simon Peters says that the spike is likely due to expectations of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval. “After a week of building expectations and momentum, bitcoin has hit $60k again for the first time in almost six months,” Peters said.

“Today’s spike appears to have been triggered by investors’ growing confidence that US regulators will approve the launch of an ETF based on bitcoin futures contracts – but a rise past $60,000 has been looking likely for a while now after weeks of positive net inflows into bitcoin from institutional investors, a growing migration of bitcoin from short-term holders to long-term holders, and the attendant squeeze on bitcoin supply,” the Etoro crypto asset analyst added.

Mikkel Morch, the executive director and risk management at crypto/digital assets hedge fund ARK36, says the price increase is clearly due to the rumors that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to approve a bitcoin ETF. “It is clear that the recent spike in BTC’s price is directly related to the rumour that the SEC will move ahead with the US first Bitcoin ETF approval,” Morch said on Friday.

“It is becoming increasingly likely that at least one of the major contenders for a BTC futures ETF, such as Valkyrie or Vaneck, could be approved in the coming days and ahead of SEC’s hard November deadlines,” Morch continued. “As Valkyrie Investments updated its futures-backed ETF prospectus with the ticker BTF on Wednesday, the company is thought to have the biggest chances of winning this race,” the ARK36 executive added.