- Bitcoin (BTC) sails past $27,000 amid relaxed macroeconomic pressures, marking a 3.2% rise within a 24-hour span.
- Ethereum (ETH) outshines Bitcoin with a 4.8% surge, fueled by the rising anticipation of a US regulatory nod for a futures-based Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF).
The cryptocurrency realm witnessed a robust surge on Thursday as Bitcoin (BTC) victoriously breached the $27,000 milestone, aligning with a relaxation in macroeconomic pressures. Notably, Bitcoin’s zenith reached a hair below $27,300, settling at $27,010 at press time, embodying a 3.2% ascendancy over the last 24 hours.
A Broader Market Upswing
The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), an indicator of a vast ensemble of crypto assets’ performance, showcased a 3.8% uplift. This upswing was spearheaded by a notable 5.5% advance of the CoinDesk DeFi Index (DCF). Among the notable gainers, governance tokens of revered DeFi lending platforms—COMP from Compound, AAVE from Aave, and MKR from Maker—experienced gains of 21%, 10%, and 5% respectively. Concurrently, LDO, the token from the eminent liquid staking platform Lido Finance, leaped nearly 9%.
Ethereum’s scaling network, Arbitrum, saw its ARB token rally by 9.6%, recuperating from earlier monthly losses. This crypto market swell occurred in tandem with a modest rebound in U.S. equities, a pullback from a 16-year high of the 10-year Treasury yield, a retreat in oil prices from 2023’s zenith, and a dip in the greenback.
Ether Ascends on ETF Hopes
In an exhilarating turn, Ether (ETH) eclipsed Bitcoin‘s performance, registering a 4.8% spike to $1,660. This elevation was propelled by escalating investor optimism over a plausible U.S regulatory endorsement for a futures-based Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). Bloomberg’s analyst, Eric Balchunas, disseminated through an X post that the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) purportedly beckoned ETF filers to amend their applications, eyeing an approval and trading commencement as early as the ensuing week, amidst concerns over a potential government shutdown.
Furthermore, the esteemed firm VanEck, tendered paperwork for its futures-based ETH ETF, joining the likes of Grayscale, ProShares, and Bitwise who have already submitted their filings.
As the market navigates towards the quarterly and monthly options expiry this Friday, crypto derivatives traders are gearing up for a significant event where approximately $4.8 billion worth of BTC and ETH options are set to expire on the pivotal derivatives exchange, Deribit. The bated breath surrounding the expiry aligns with the significant open interest at the $27,000 level for BTC, painting a complex picture of the market’s short-term trajectory as envisaged by the option traders.
