Bitcoin soared past $89,000, setting new records amid a market rally, with traders anticipating favourable policies under President-elect Trump. His pro-crypto stance, contrasting with the previous administration’s regulatory approach, spurred optimism for a “crypto boom,” pushing digital assets’ total market value to around $3.1 trillion. Investors are betting on a continued surge, while Bitcoin’s year-to-date gain exceeds 100%, outperforming global stocks and gold.
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
The seventh BizNews Conference, BNC#7, is to be held in Hermanus from March 11 to 13, 2025. The 2025 BizNews Conference is designed to provide an excellent opportunity for members of the BizNews community to interact directly with the keynote speakers, old (and new) friends from previous BNC events – and to interact with members of the BizNews team. Register for BNC#7 here.
By Sunil Jagtiani and Sidhartha Shukla
Bitcoin’s record-breaking rally took the digital asset past $89,000 and lifted the overall value of the crypto market above its pandemic-era peak as traders bet on a boom under President-elect Donald Trump.
The largest token has jumped about 32% since the US election on Nov. 5, hitting an all-time high of $89,599 on Tuesday. The original cryptocurrency changed hands at $88,450 as of 5:45 a.m. in London.
Trump has vowed friendlier crypto rules and his Republican Party is tightening its grip on Congress, boosting his odds of pushing through his agenda. Trump’s other pledges include setting up a strategic Bitcoin stockpile and fostering domestic mining of the token to make the US the crypto capital of the planet.
His stance is a sharp break from a Securities & Exchange Commission crackdown on the divisive industry under President Joe Biden. The change of tone has energized speculative buying of large and small tokens alike, raising the value of digital assets overall to about $3.1 trillion, CoinGecko data show.
‘Red-Hot’ Play
Bitcoin is in “beast mode,” Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group, wrote in a note. “The question for traders not already set is whether there is still room to chase this red-hot play or wait for a slight retracement and for some of the heat to come out of the impulsive trend.”
Investors are lining up bets in the options market that Bitcoin will pass $100,000 as soon as the end of the year, according to data from the Deribit exchange. Open interest — or outstanding contracts — for CME Group Inc. futures for Bitcoin and second-ranked Ether scaled records on Monday, a sign of growing engagement by US institutional investors.
Meanwhile, software firm MicroStrategy Inc. — the largest publicly-traded corporate holder of Bitcoin outside the exchange-traded fund sector — bought about 27,200 Bitcoin for some $2 billion between Oct. 31 and Nov. 10.
Traders for now are paying little heed to questions such as how quickly Trump will implement his agenda or whether a strategic stockpile is a realistic step. The febrile mood is illustrated by a recent doubling in the price of Dogecoin, a meme-crowd favorite promoted by Trump supporter Elon Musk.
Stretched Rally
Bitcoin is up roughly 110% in 2024, helped by robust demand for dedicated US ETFs and interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. The token’s rise exceeds the returns from the likes of global stocks and gold. Turnover in BlackRock Inc.’s $39 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust reached an all-time high on Monday.
Fairlead Strategies LLC technical analyst Katie Stockton in her latest research note said “it would be natural to see a period of digestion after such a steep run-up” in Bitcoin, recommending a “short-term neutral bias.”
Digital-asset companies spent heavily during the US election campaign to boost candidates viewed as favorable to their interests. Against that backdrop, Trump did an about-face, becoming a supporter of an industry he once labeled a scam.
His backing turned Bitcoin into one of a range of so-called Trump trades. Others include US stocks and the dollar, both of which have also been advancing given Trump’s focus on domestic economic growth, tax cuts and protectionist tariffs.
Read also:
- NewsWrap: Bitcoin hits new highs, Trump gains support; Rupert’s trade moves; de Beer on BELA; Khumalo on corruption; Market Wrap
- Trump’s re-election is fuelling Bitcoin surge: Insights from Jaltech’s Jason Welz
- BizNews Briefing – Trump Bump; Bitcoin above $80,000; MKP founder; Rupert batting for SA
© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.
