Bitcoin analysts are still long-term bullish even as the cryptocurrency gives up gains from the past two days.Read MoreFeedzy
A two-day rally of nearly $2,000 in the bitcoin (BTC) price appears to have quickly petered out.
As of press time the largest cryptocurrency by market value was down 1% in the past 24 hours, wiping out some of its recent gains.
Bitcoin was changing hands at $41,064, off from a high of $42,209 reached earlier Wednesday.
21Shares and ETF Securities announced Wednesday they will both launch spot exchange-traded products for bitcoin and ether (ETH) in Australia next week.
There’s also optimism for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of Teucrium Futures Fund. Teucrium’s application was approved under the “34 Act” (the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) instead of the “40 Act” (the Investment Company Act of 1940) under which all previous bitcoin futures ETFs were approved. With some spot bitcoin ETF applications filed under the 33 and 34 Acts, some analysts see the Teucrium decision as opening the way for a spot bitcoin ETF to win approval.
“I don’t think there’s any one major catalyst for price movement up or down right now,” said Jason Deane, bitcoin market analyst at Quantum Economics. “There are those who are trying to connect today’s earlier jump with Australia’s ETF announcement or Commerzbank’s crypto custody application, but I think those are more of the steadily improving macro backdrop for bitcoin generally than reasons behind specific moves right now.”
“Medium- to long-term outlook remains very bullish,” Deane said. “Immediate to short term is uncertain and may well stay range-bound for some time yet.”
Investors appear to be confident in bitcoin’s long-term value.
“On-chain data shows long-term holders continue to accumulate and more bitcoin than ever is now ‘locked,'” Deane said.
Among long-term bitcoin holders, “the BTC accumulation is not only a whales’ game,” IntoTheBlock Insights wrote in a Telegram message. Blockchain data shows that “addresses holding less than 10 bitcoins have increased their holdings dramatically in 2022,” according to the firm.
“Bitcoin on-chain metrics continue to be bullish as bitcoin exchange reserves plummet further,” wrote Marcus Sotiriou, analyst at the UK based digital asset broker GlobalBlock in a newsletter. “This signals that the proportion of long-term holders are increasing as fewer people are willing to leave their Bitcoin on exchanges.”
Ether (ETH) fell 1.6% in the past 24 hours, still trading just above $3,000.
U.S. stocks were mixed, with the S&P 500 up 0.16% and the Nasdaq down 1.04%.
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