Key Points
- Bitcoin’s price surpasses $65,000, nearing a new all-time high, driven by a surge in Bitcoin futures open interest.
- The demand for Bitcoin ETFs remains high, contributing to the cryptocurrency’s price increase.
Bitcoin Nears New High as Futures Interest Increases
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, is nearing a new all-time high as its price exceeds $65,000.
Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $64,950, marking an increase of 4.99%, with a market cap of $1.2777 trillion.
According to data from CoinGlass, Bitcoin has seen $13.64 million worth of liquidation in the last 24 hours, with over $11 million coming from short liquidations.
The daily open interest for Bitcoin futures on centralized exchanges reached a record $30.30 billion on Monday.
Open interest, which represents the total value of all active Bitcoin futures contracts across exchanges, provides insights into market activity and trader sentiment.
Bitcoin ETF Demand Fuels Price Increase
The recent surge in Bitcoin’s price is largely due to the demand for Bitcoin through the US-listed Bitcoin ETFs, which began trading on January 11.
Since their launch, these ETFs have attracted net inflows totaling $7.35 billion.
Investors anticipate that the price of Bitcoin will surpass its previous peak of nearly $69,000, which was achieved during the 2021 bull run.
This optimism is fueled by the robust demand for ETFs and the fear of missing out (FOMO) ahead of the upcoming Bitcoin halving event expected in April.
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen a significant increase in assets under management, especially BlackRock’s IBIT, which reached $10 billion last week.
The combined volume for spot Bitcoin ETFs was $73.91 billion as of March 1, a substantial increase from $29.19 billion on February 1.
BlackRock Inc’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity Investments’ Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) have attracted 79% of the total inflows among the “Newborn Nine” Bitcoin funds.
In response to this trend, four of the remaining seven funds have reduced their fees to compete with these leaders.
Valkyrie Investments significantly reduced its fee from 0.49% to 0.25%, while Franklin Templeton now offers the lowest fee in the sector at 0.19% after cutting its management charge by 10 basis points.
Meanwhile, Bitwise has chosen not to adjust its fees.
The surge in Bitcoin’s price this year, surpassing $65,000, is due to retail investors eager to capitalize on the introduction of new ETFs, fearing they might miss out on the opportunity.
