Bitcoin Still Soaring on ETF Hype as $133 Million in Shorts Liquidated

Bitcoin (BTC) has continued to soar during New Year’s trading, and is fast closing in on $46,000 per coin—a price not seen since March 2022.

The biggest digital coin by market cap is now priced at $45,707, according to CoinGecko. That’s a jump of more than 7% in 24 hours. Over the past week, it’s also up by 7%.

BTC has come a long way since last year, when it kicked off 2023 trading for below $17,000.

The coin’s surge has led to over $133 million in short positions being liquidated in the last 24 hours, data from CoinGlass shows. A short is a type of derivative contract that allows investors to bet that the price of the asset will go down.

Hype surrounding the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) this month is causing investors to be bullish. Analysts expect the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to give the green light to at least one of the potential issuers vying to offer a Bitcoin ETF by January 10.

Investors have been calling for a Bitcoin ETF for 10 years, only for the SEC to reject every application that’s been submitted. But last year, a number of high-profile Wall Street firms—including BlackRock—applied to the regulator to release their own crypto fund.

A Bitcoin ETF would give investors exposure to the biggest cryptocurrency in a safe and regulated way. At least, that’s what potential issuers have promised.

BTC’s rise has caused other coins and tokens to shoot up in value, too.

Solana (SOL), which caught investors’ attention again last year, is now up nearly 7% in 24 hours, and is trading hands for $111.68—making it the best-performer after BTC of the top 20 coins and tokens.

While Ethereum (ETH), the second biggest digital coin, has risen nearly 3% in the past day and is now trading hands for $2,363.

Elsewhere, the price of ORDI, the largest token minted using the Bitcoin BRC-20 standard, is one of the hottest altcoins right now and is close to entering the top 50 biggest cryptocurrencies. It’s trading for $81.78, a nearly 8% 24-hour rise.

Other well-performing altcoins include layer-1 blockchain Sei (SEI), which is up 18% over the past day and coming in priced at $0.75, and Astar Network (ASTR), having experienced a more than 18% jump in value. Its price now is $0.15.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.