The biggest Bitcoin rally since April 2018 is underway. Currently, Bitcoin’s price is near USD 7,450, heading back towards yesterday’s high of USD 7,500, a 10% increase from the day before. On 12 July 2018, Bitcoin’s price was near USD 6,200, so this represents a USD 1,100 price increase in less than a week. This corresponds to a USD 20 billion increase in the Bitcoin market cap from USD 106 billion to USD 126 billion, indicating a large amount of fresh investment.
The last time Bitcoin saw such a significant rally was in early April 2018 when Bitcoin’s price climbed from roughly USD 6,600 to USD 8,000 in less than a week. The rally continued after that through early May, with Bitcoin’s price briefly nearing USD 10,000. Bitcoin’s price went into a steep and steady decline after that, but this trend is finally being broken by the current rally.
Per usual, other cryptocurrencies are following Bitcoin’s lead and they are rallying. As of this writing, the overall cryptocurrency market cap is at USD 291.5 billion, and earlier in the day exceeded USD 294 billion. The crypto market cap is up more than USD 20 billion today alone and up approximately USD 50 billion in the past week.
There is no clear smoking gun for the 10% price rally today. There has been positive news in general regarding increasing institutional investment and the launch of properly licensed cryptocurrency custodians like Coinbase, BitGo, and Xapo which will further accelerate institutional investment.
Perhaps the most exciting potential news would be the SEC’s approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which is possible in mid-August. SolidX and VanEck have developed BZX, a Bitcoin ETF which would be listed on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), which is the same exchange that already has Bitcoin futures contracts. Apparently, BZX has the best opportunity out of any ETF so far to be approved by the SEC since it uses actual Bitcoins and addresses other concerns that caused previous Bitcoin ETF applications to fail. The SEC opened up BZX to public comment and many positive comments are pouring in.
It is possible that the current Bitcoin rally is the result of investors getting in early before the Bitcoin ETF is given official approval. If it were to be approved it could cause a massive rally, since it would allow Bitcoin to be purchased with the same ease as purchasing a stock on all the major stock trading platforms.
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