Bitcoin has been the talk of mainstream media, Wall Street, and more following its 330% surge in a year. In the past week, the crypto asset has faced increased volatility, which has resulted in around 10% price swings per day as investors buy in and cash out of their holdings.
In today’s early sessions, the BTCUSD pair rocketed past the $38,800 and $39,200 resistance levels as the bulls gained strength. The king coin even momentarily smashed $40K, eclipsing short-term price targets by many investors and analysts.
BTCUSD Chart By TradingView
The move, which marked an over 14% jump in just 24 hours, came two days after Grayscale Investments reopened its institutional trusts for crypto markets.
The New York-based digital asset fund manager had earlier halted new sign-ups for its cryptocurrency trusts, including BTC, ETH, and BCH. Many investors now believe that the reopening resulted in fresh inflows into the bitcoin market, sparking today’s rally past $40K.
Bitcoin Recovers Despite Christine Lagarde’s Crypto Warnings
The world’s leading cryptocurrency has now recovered from the violent sell-off that saw it tank to $30K on Monday, fueled by heavy selling in the spot market. The climb higher comes despite the European Central Bank president, Christine Lagarde, calling crypto a “highly speculative” asset on Wednesday.
Reuters reported that the ECB boss linked crypto to reprehensible money laundering activities and called for stringent regulation of the nascent asset class on a global level. Tighter regulation is bound to demolish crypto’s appeal, which is mainly its anonymous nature.
Yet despite Lagarde’s warnings about crypto, soaring BTC prices continue to lure institutional investors into the space. Analysts at Morgan Stanley explained the growing appetite for crypto, stating:
“With the large decline in the dollar, deeply negative real yields and continued policy uncertainty, investors have been looking for alternatives to traditional cash holdings.”
Polkadot (DOT) Surges 25%
Meanwhile, DOT is up over 25% this week, outperforming BTC as it gained pace above the $9.50 and $10.00. The fifth-largest crypto asset by market cap even traded to a new yearly high at $11.60 and continued soaring to its current price of $12.65.
A close above $12.50 could open the doors for a sustained move to the upside, possibly resulting in a test of $15.00.
