On Monday, Bitcoin reached a two-year high, breaking $64,000 as a surge of money brought it within striking distance of record levels.
Reaching its highest level since late 2021 at $64,285 early in the Asian day, Bitcoin closed 2% higher at $63,850. However, it fell short of its record high of $68,999.99 set in November 2021.
This year, the largest cryptocurrency by market value has surged by 50%, with the majority of the increase concentrated in the last few weeks. This notable uptick coincided with a rise in trading volume for U.S.-listed bitcoin funds.
Earlier this year, regulatory authorities in the United States approved Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The launch of their product paved the way for new large investors. This also reignited excitement and momentum, reminiscent of the run-up to record levels in 2021.
“The flows are not drying up as investors feel more confident the higher price appears to go,” said Markus Thielen, head of research at Singapore’s 10x Research.
Speculation about the potential for exchange-traded funds to drive inflows has propelled smaller rival ether’s rise, with a 50% increase year to date. Despite reaching $3,490 on Monday, it stayed just below the two-year highs set last week.
The rally has coincided with records falling on stock indexes, ranging from Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) to the S&P 500 (.SPX) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC). Additionally, volatility gauges in equities (.VIX) and foreign exchange (.DBCVIX) have turned lower.
“In a world where Nasdaq is making new all-time highs, crypto is going to perform well as bitcoin remains a high-volatility tech proxy and liquidity thermometer,” said Brent Donnelly, trader and president at analysis firm Spectra Markets.
“We are back to a 2021-style market where everything goes up and everyone is having fun.”
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