Key Points
- Bitcoin's price briefly exceeded $64,000, and BTC futures open interest reached a record high.
- Ethereum's price rose 1.6% to approximately $3,400.
Bitcoin's price briefly soared above the $64,000 mark on Monday morning in Asia, marking a 7% swing from its all-time high recorded in November 2021. By 9:30 a.m. Hong Kong time, the world's most valuable cryptocurrency was trading at around $63,500, marking a 3.4% increase in the last 24 hours.
The GMCI 30 Index, which tracks the performance of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, stood at 137.39, up 2.21% in 24 hours. Over the past day, liquidations in Bitcoin positions amounted to $59.27 million, with roughly $38.52 million being shorts, as per data from Coinglass.
Futures and ETFs
The surge coincided with the daily open interest for Bitcoin futures on centralized exchanges hitting an all-time high of $27.53 billion on Monday morning in Asia. Open interest, the total value of all outstanding Bitcoin futures contracts across exchanges, indicates heightened market activity and trader sentiment.
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen a significant uptick in assets under management. BlackRock's IBIT reached $10 billion last week, and the total volume for spot Bitcoin ETFs reached $73.91 billion as of March 1, a substantial increase from $29.19 billion on Feb. 1.
Halving Event and Ethereum's Performance
Bitcoin is also approaching its next halving event, slated for April, which will reduce miner rewards by 50%. This event could negatively impact miners' profitability and lead to higher Bitcoin production costs, potentially causing Bitcoin price declines, according to a report by JPMorgan analysts last week.
Meanwhile, the price of Ethereum increased by 1.6% to trade at around $3,400 on Monday morning in Asia.
