Bitcoin was slowing its rise, after having set a new record earlier, reaching a level above US$ 107 thousand. Even with the loss of steam, the cryptocurrency still changed hands with robust gains in the late afternoon given expectations of a favorable regulatory environment under the administration of the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, who also promised to form a bitcoin reserve.
A point of caution, however, came from the expectation that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may pause its monetary easing cycle after the expected cut in the basic interest rate this Wednesday.
Around 5 pm (Brasília time), bitcoin rose 2.98%, to US$ 106,254.40, after a maximum of US$ 107,780.58, according to Binance. Ethereum was up 3.80%, at US$4,055.64, at the same time, according to the same platform.
For Ana de Mattos, technical analyst and partner trader at Ripio, at the moment, there is a certain amount of caution among investors, given the possibility, which cannot be ruled out, that the expected interest rate cut by the Fed could be the last in the short term, which could impact appetite for risky assets.
Decisions in US monetary policy can partly influence market volatility, according to the analyst. “But even so, there are several other political, economic reasons and mainly linked to Bitcoin technology that will be in evidence and that are enough to renew the optimism of the crypto market over the next year”, he added.
Amid interest in cryptocurrencies, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF) has attracted more than $50 billion in the 11 months since its launch, making it the leader in the space. It is more than double that of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (number 2) and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin (third in the ranking).
From the election through last Friday, investors funneled a net $9.3 billion into Bitcoin ETFs, FactSet says — with $8.2 billion going into iShares and $1.4 billion into the Fidelity fund. .
The iShares ETF trades about 43 million shares a day, compared with six million for Fidelity and less than four million for Grayscale, Morningstar says. Higher trading volumes typically translate into lower bid-ask spreads.
