Bitcoin trades above $30,000 to start the week as hopes grow over ETF

The price of bitcoin rose to start the week, extending gains from the previous week helped by optimism about a bitcoin ETF and a flight to safety. 

Bitcoin was trading about 3% higher at $30,839.90, according to Coin Metrics, and is coming off its best week since June. It has reached $30,000 at several points in 2023 but has struggled to make a sustained move higher, with the U.S. regulatory crackdown on crypto weighing on liquidity and trading volumes.

Investors are expecting the approval of a bitcoin ETF to change that between the end of the year and the first half of 2024. Several firms have also amended their filings in the past couple weeks to address earlier concerns by the SEC, which investors are taking as a positive sign that the agency is engaging positively with the firms.

High volatility last week also led to a surge in trading activity, according to Matteo Greco, a research analyst at Fineqia.

The moves began with about $100 million in liquidations that followed a false report about the BlackRock bitcoin ETF being approved. The volatility ended with the cryptocurrency’s climb to $30,000 on optimism around updated ETF filings and comments from big wigs like BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.

Greco said the cumulative daily volume on centralized exchanges between Oct. 16 and Oct. 22, based on a seven-day moving average, was the third-highest it’s been in the last 60 days.

Recent price action has lifted bitcoin’s year-to-date return to 84%.

Elsewhere, ether, crypto’s other blue-chip asset, was up 2.8% Monday at $1,681.20. The Solana token, which was one of the biggest winner’s last week, was up more than 1%. 

Shares of the crypto services stock Coinbase were slightly higher. Microstrategy, which is largely viewed by investors as a bitcoin proxy, was up 2%.

Bitcoin miners, which often benefit from a rise in the underlying price, were higher as well. Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms, the two biggest mining stocks, were up 3% and 6%, respectively.