The market’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), is once again nearing the $100,000 milestone, following a significant rally that has seen the cryptocurrency reach its highest price since late February.
After experiencing downward pressure attributed to Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which triggered a sell-off across both the stock and digital asset markets, Bitcoin’s resurgence showcases a renewed bullish appetite among investors.
To close the first quarter of the year, Bitcoin faced a steep decline, dropping as much as 30% toward $74,000 after hitting a record high of approximately $109,000 on January 20, coinciding with Trump’s second inauguration as President of the United States.
However, the market has seen Bitcoin climb as much as 3.1% to reach a weekly high of $97,483, marking the highest level since February 21. The last time Bitcoin crossed the $100,000 threshold was on February 7.
This upward movement comes amid a shift in market dynamics, particularly in the spot markets, where demand has increased. This suggests a transition towards momentum trading, rather than the previous trend driven primarily by macroeconomic factors such as inflation and tariffs.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) have attracted significant inflows, with over $3.2 billion entering the market last week alone. Notably, BlackRock’s Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) recorded nearly $1.5 billion in inflows, marking its highest weekly intake for the year, according to data from Bloomberg.
Demand for upside options has also surged in the market, with call options at the $100,000 strike price exhibiting the most open interest across various expiration dates, according to Coinglass and data from the largest crypto options exchange, Deribit.
“Market sentiment has broadly shifted in favor of momentum-based trades fueled by spot demand, as BTC breaches levels not seen since early February,” stated Chris Newhouse, director of research at Ergonia, a decentralized finance (DeFi) trading firm.
“BTC continues to shift between correlations with gold and equities, highlighting a more nuanced relationship with macroeconomic factors balanced by short-term momentum and spot demand,” Newhouse further told Bloomberg.
Ethereum, on the other hand, has shown a steady recovery over the past week, reinforcing its status as a key player in the decentralized finance sector and smart contract platforms, and regaining the foothold lost in the first quarter of the year.
Improvements from Ethereum’s scalability upgrades, including the transition to Ethereum 2.0, have boosted performance and made the platform more attractive to developers and users.
However, this has not translated into year-to-date gains for the second largest cryptocurrency compared to its peers, with losses of up to 36% over the period.
Despite this, the price of ETH has seen a 14% surge in the fourteen day time frame, regaining the $1,800 level as a key support to boost the potential for further recovery towards $2,000.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
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