Bitcoin surpassed $64,000 for the first time in more than two years on Wednesday and is already up almost 45% in 2024. The feeling has been that things might be different this time around.
New U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds are shaking up the market for the lead cryptocurrency, contributing to the bullish price run by drawing more than $7 billion in net inflows in less than two months.
A five-day rally sent Bitcoin to highs of $64,100 on Wednesday, bringing the record high of nearly $69,000 within reach. A looming decrease in Bitcoin supply growth, known as halving, has further fueled the price increase.
At the time of writing, BTC has risen 5.85% in the previous 24 hours to $62,651, after reaching intraday highs of $63675 in early Thursday trading.
Bitcoin's gain since the start of the year has surpassed stocks, extending a trend begun in 2023. The momentum has attracted traders looking for volatility.
According to Kaiko, Bitcoin trade volume reached its highest level since the FTX meltdown in Wednesday's trading session, totaling $34 billion.
Bitcoin network activity, ETF volumes explode
Santiment, an on-chain analytics start-up, revealed a massive increase in Bitcoin's on-chain transaction volume, circulation and whale transactions as the price rose.
Santiment reported that as Bitcoin surged beyond $64,000, on-chain activity on the Bitcoin network reached levels not seen before 2022. On-chain transaction volume totaled $35.37 billion, with 283,000 unique tokens moving and whale transactions worth more than $1 million reaching 3,661.
Overall trading activity in spot Bitcoin ETFs, including products from BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments, jumped substantially to about $8 billion on Wednesday as Bitcoin surged toward a record.
The funding rate for Bitcoin perpetual futures has also reached its highest level since 2021, indicating that traders are racing to gamble on gains.