BTC Flashes Above $35K As ETF Approval Optimism Grows

Bitcoin (BTC) suddenly leaped on Monday recording the longest daily green candlestick since September 2022 to briefly trade above $35,000. This comes as excitement around Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) continues to grow.

The big crypto broke through the $32,000 mark for the first time in over 17 months, marking a staggering 13% gain over the last 24 hours.

A few hours after breaking $32,000, the pioneer cryptocurrency flushed above $35,000 reaching as high as $35,157 on Coinbase. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is exchanging hands at $34,415.

The sudden uptick in Bitcoin’s price comes amid a fresh wave of interest in upcoming spot ETF approvals and a significant increase in overall trading volumes across spot markets.

The surge also came amid fresh developments relating to BlackRock’s proposed spot Bitcoin ETF. In a recent report by ETF specialist Eric Balchunas, iShares Bitcoin Trust has been listed on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

DTCC is the body that clears Nasdaq trades. The BlackRock product has been dubbed “IBTC” with Balchunas acknowledging that the process of bringing the ETF to market continues to strengthen.

The iShares Bitcoin Trust has been listed on the DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, which clears NASDAQ trades). And the ticker will be $IBTC. Again all part of the process of bringing ETF to market.. h/t @martypartymusic pic.twitter.com/8PQP3h2yW0

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 23, 2023

This follows an indication by the asset manager in their recent spot Bitcoin ETF amendment that they would be seeding the ETF in October.

Seeding an ETF refers to provision of initial funding by a bank or broker-dealer used to purchase a few creation units (in this case BTC) in exchange for ETF shares that can be traded in the open market on the first day.

Note: Seeding is typically not a lot of money just enough to get ETF going. So I wouldn’t read this as ‘omg Blackrock is buying a ton of bitcoin’ at all but more the fact they doing it and disclosing it shows another step in the process of launching.

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 23, 2023

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that Grayscale’s victory has been upheld after the court ruled in favor of the investment firm over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asking the commission to review the BTC ETF application.

If the ongoing recovery in the price continues, we might see BTC break past the $40,000 mark in the near term.

BTC Price Faces Weak Resistance on the Upside

Bitcoin finally broke through the supplier congestion zone between $30,000 and $32,000 that had suppressed the price since June 2022. Flipping this area into a demand zone triggered more buy orders that saw the flagship cryptocurrency rise to $35,000.

The moving averages are facing up and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is positioned in the overbought region. The price strength at 87 suggests that there is still more room for the upside before it gets to 100.

Bulls will now attempt to push the price back above $35,000 with the short term target set at $40,000. This would represent a 16% ascent from the current price.

BTC/USD Daily Chart

Ths positive outlook is also supported by on-chain data from IntoTheBlock, a blockchain data and market analysis firm. According to its In/Out of the Money Around Price (IOMAP) model, it showed that Bitcoin faced relatively weak resistance on the upside compared to the support it enjoys on the downside.

The demand area between $27,288 and $28,000 is where all the Exponential Moving Averages (EMA) lie as shown on the chart above. From the IOMAP chart below it can be seen that this area is close to the $29,122 to $30,201 price range where approximately 874,200 BTC were previously bought by 2.28 million addresses. This area is robust enough to produce the demand pressure required to bolster Bitcoin higher.

Bitcoin IOMAP Chart

The same IOMAP showed that BTC does not face stiff barriers above the current price. Therefore, the path with least resistance is on the upside.

 While Bitcoin leads the recovery, the general tide of upwards price momentum is lifting altcoins as well. Ethereum’s native currency Ether is up 7% on the day, while Solana (SOL) has gained a whopping 11%. Additionally, Dogecoin (DOGE) was up 9% while Cardano (ADA) and Binance Coin (BNB) were lagging slightly with 6% and 2% gains respectively.