Summary
The price of bitcoin rose above $43,000 for the first time in two weeks, driven by speculation of a rate pause at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Outflows from Grayscale Investments’ spot bitcoin ETF may also be slowing. The liquidation of over $60 million of cryptocurrency short positions occurred, with over $40 million in liquidated bitcoin leveraged positions in the past 24 hours. The market expects the Federal Reserve to pause rates, with a 97.9% chance of the Fed funds rate remaining at its current target range. A rate pause and potential rate cuts could facilitate a robust bull market for bitcoin. Institutional interest in bitcoin is expected to grow, with increased spot bitcoin ETF inflows.
Key Points
1. The price of bitcoin increased above the $43,000 mark for the first time in two weeks, potentially influenced by the market’s anticipation of a rate pause at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
2. There are indications that outflows from Grayscale Investments’ spot bitcoin ETF may be slowing, with Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart noting that IBIT’s volume was ahead of GBTC’s volume.
3. Tuesday’s price action led to the liquidation of over $60 million of cryptocurrency short positions, and liquidated bitcoin leveraged positions spiked to over $40 million in the past 24 hours, with shorts accounting for over $24 million of this amount.