Bitcoin Price Soars Above $45,500: Top 3 Reasons

The Bitcoin price has risen to over $45,900 in the last few hours, an increase of 7.5% in the last 24 hours. These are the three main reasons:

The recent surge in Bitcoin’s price was predominantly led by activities on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). At a point, the Bitcoin price on CME was approximately $1,400 higher than on Coinbase, indicating significant buying pressure on this platform.

The CME Group, a renowned exchange for cash settled Bitcoin futures contracts, attracts a substantial institutional investor base, making its price movements particularly noteworthy. Analyst Will Clemente highlighted the unusual trading activity, stating via X, “CME trading at fresh 52-week highs on an illiquid Monday night like someone knows something.”

Supporting this observation, analyst @MacnBTC remarked, “Something obviously leaking as CME is up +8.5% on the day.” Bluntz Capital echoed similar sentiments, noting, “CME tradfi apes are aping, huge premium.”

CME tradfi apes are aping, huge premium pic.twitter.com/dwfW0shLB7

— Bluntz (@Bluntz_Capital) January 2, 2024

The approach of the January 10 deadline for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision on the approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has stirred significant market anticipation. As Bitcoinist reported today, the SEC is reportedly doing the last paperwork.

Moreover, rumors intensified yesterday that the SEC could approve a batch of spot Bitcoin ETF already today, on January 2. A report from Reuters indicated that the SEC could potentially inform issuers as soon as today, Tuesday or Wednesday, about their authorization to introduce spot Bitcoin ETFs in the subsequent week. This speculation may have sparked a sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) among investors.

However, this is by no means a done deal. Eleanor Terrett of FOX Business shared insights on X, commenting on the SEC’s unpredictability. Terrett pointed out, “While the SEC is surely unpredictable, it would surprise me if approvals were to happen [today]. […] The SEC still has to review all the changes made to the S-1s filed on Thursday/Friday AND make comments on them.”

On the technical front, Bitcoin displayed strong bullish signals across various time frames. Renowned crypto analyst Skew focused on the 30-minute chart of BTC/USDT. In a post on X , Skew shared an attached chart and analyzed:

BTC 30min: Systematically this has been super clean. Price tested both 4H 200MA & 200EMA then grinded with 4H 200MA before reclaiming 1H 200MA & 200EMA (momentum ignition). Technical flip of previous resistance into running towards the highs. Now we see how much momentum is brewing behind this.

On the daily chart, BTC bounced off the lower end of the ascending trend channel and is now trying to overcome the upper resistance. Once again, BTC has respected the trend which started in mid-October and is now starting another breakout attempt. A daily close above $45,500 could be decisive. Then, the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level at $48,700 could be the next target. At press time, BTC stood at $45,693.