Bitcoin tops $68,800 but falls short of record high

Analysts remain positive that the digital token can surpass its all-time high this week

Bitcoin has jumped 57.77 per cent so far this year to reach a market capitalisation of $1.31 trillion. Bloomberg

Bitcoin fell agonisingly short of its all-time high of about $69,000 on Tuesday morning, hitting $68,818.27 before losing ground in volatile trading as investors booked profits.

The cryptocurrency, the world's biggest by market capitalisation, was trading at $66,821.74 as of 12.55pm UAE time, according to CoinDesk data.

However, analysts including Markus Thielen, head of research at 10x, remains positive that Bitcoin will reach its all-time high this week.

In a research note shared by the UK-based company in a post on X, Mr Thielen said that “everybody will be astonished by Bitcoin’s price action this week”.

“Price action during the weekend is always important to follow and while attempts have been made to [liquidate] leveraged long positions, there are no sellers,” Mr Thielen was quoted by CoinDesk as saying.

So far this year, the digital token has jumped 57.77 per cent to reach a market capitalisation of $1.31 trillion, as inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs accelerated. The total market cap of the cryptocurrency sector is up 5.7 per cent at $2.64 trillion.

Bitcoin hit a record high of $68,991.85 in November 2021, shortly before inflation and interest rates took off during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In November 2022, the cryptocurrency plummeted below $16,000 as the sector entered a “crypto winter”, resulting in the collapse of platforms including Celsius, Three Arrows Capital and Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX.

The collapse of FTX, once valued at $32 billion, is the highest-profile cryptocurrency exchange failure to date, after traders pulled $6 billion from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.

However, in January, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved the country's first spot Bitcoin ETFs, clearing the way for them to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Cboe Global Markets and the Nasdaq.

The SEC's ETF approval and the planned Bitcoin halving in April has fuelled the current rally, which has spread across smaller tokens and meme coins.

Ethereum, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, is currently trading at $3,696.57.19, its highest price since January 2022, while Shiba Inu has surged 42.24 per cent to hit 0000.3871.

“Retail is hearing about the large crypto run-up from the Bitcoin ETFs, and has re-entered the market, buying all the cheap coins,” Jordi Alexander, founder of digital-asset trading firm Selini Capital, told Bloomberg.

“PEPE and WIF are some of the new entrants of this cycle compared to last, as well as BONK. DOGE and SHIB getting a bit of comeback also – the key question is: Do dogs keep the lead, or is there a faster animal?”