Bitcoin Tops $50K for First Time in 3 Months

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23 August 2021

Bitcoin is once again trading above the $50,000 price tag, hitting the mark for the first time in over three months.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value is up 2.5% over a 24-hour period and is currently changing hands for around $50,050, its highest point since May 15. Bitcoin’s year-to-date returns now stand at 71.4%, CoinDesk data shows.

“It’s not the first time we’ve crossed this legendary milestone, but given the advancements in the industry lately, $50,000 certainly seems justified at this time,” said Mati Greenspan, CEO of Quantum Economics.

BTCUSD Daily Chart
Source: TradingView

Daily trading volume remains relatively flat and has continued to decline from days prior, though price action remains above a key indicator used to gauge the momentum of a given trend.

“The market continues to hover over the 200-day moving average with bulls still in play,” Toby Chapple, head of trading at digital asset firm Zerocap, told CoinDesk via Telegram. “Relative outperformance by cardano, ether, polkadot, uniswap and others have provided a supporting bid for BTC/USD in recent days.”

Cryptocurrency-related stocks rose Monday in premarket trading. Coinbase ($COIN) was up 3.2% to $265 a share and MicroStrategy ($MSTR) rose 4.5% to $749.

Bitcoin is flashing signs of medium-term pricing in the form of long interest from investors, though the futures pricing is certainly not what it was compared to earlier this year, Chapple added.

BTC Futures Annualized Rolling One-Month Basis
Source: Skew/Zerocap

Larger global issues, including the upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium at the end of August and a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in September, may cause the market to consider any possible moves on global liquidity, Chapple said.

“Any move by the Fed would be negative for price action and involve possible contagion from a risk-off event in traditional markets.”

Other cryptos in the top 20 by market capitalization also rallied on bitcoin’s move with cardano, litecoin and uniswap clocking the highest gains between 2%-12%.

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