(Kitco News) – Traders experienced a bit of a rollercoaster ride on Wednesday as asset prices fell under pressure early in the day but rallied higher into the market close despite anxieties about Nvidia’s earnings report and escalating geopolitical tensions.
Amid the volatility, gold did what it does best and offered investors a safe haven from the turmoil, climbing back above $2,645 per ounce while other markets were seeing red. At the time of writing, spot gold trades at $2,649.60/oz for a gain of 0.71% on the session.
Equities markets opened lower amid the mounting headwinds and traded in the red for most of the day before rallying in the last hour of trading. At the market close, the Dow finished up 0.32%, the Nasdaq lost 0.11%, and the S&P finished flat.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) started the day with a rally to a new all-time high of $95,000 but fell under pressure after notching the new record, sliding back down to support at $92,000. But that pullback was short-lived, and bulls soon pushed it back above $94,000.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
“BTC is once again on the cusp of breaking new ground, briefly touching the $95,000 mark earlier today,” noted analysts at Secure Digital Markets. “We've observed a notable increase in open interest—climbing into double-digit percentages overnight—though there has been some pullback after challenging key resistance levels. The market depth shows substantial placement of offers at the $95,000 and $96,000 thresholds, while bid support remains robust.”
Bitcoin also received a boost from the launch of options for BlackRock's IBIT spot BTC ETF on Tuesday, they said. “IBIT has quickly amassed a market capitalization of $44 billion, experiencing over $2 billion in options trading volume in terms of notional value, and surpassing $4 billion in ETF trades, trailing only behind major equity index ETFs like SPY. These volumes are remarkable considering the current position limits set at 25,000 contracts.”
And demand could continue to increase for the foreseeable future, they suggested, as MicroStrategy – which has climbed into the top 100 U.S. publicly traded companies by market capitalization, largely driven by excitement about its Bitcoin holdings – continues to buy more BTC for its Treasury, while “speculations are rife that CEO Michael Saylor is poised for discussions with Microsoft about potential BTC investment strategies,” the analysts said.
“Amid these developments, there's chatter that former President Trump is contemplating appointing crypto advocate Teresa Goody Guillén to lead the SEC, signaling a shift towards a more cryptocurrency-friendly regulatory environment,” they added.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $94,424, an increase of 2.26% on the 24-hour chart.
$100,000 is only a matter of time
A survey of crypto analysts on X shows that most see Bitcoin hitting the highly anticipated price of $100,000 in the near future as the bull market enters prime time.
#Bitcoin
$100,000+ is coming ladies and gentleman.$BTC just started it's parabola like in previous cycles.
Imagine what Altcoins will do then. pic.twitter.com/5guepJvioZ— ???????ⓗ? ? (@el_crypto_prof) November 20, 2024
Market analyst Rekt Captial noted that Bitcoin is now in price discovery mode, and based on its historical performance, is still in the early stages of its parabolic rise.
#BTC
Bitcoin is continuing its Price Discovery Uptrend as per history
Bitcoin is still in the very early stages of this Price Discovery Uptrend as well$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/HJAYYFOoF4— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) November 20, 2024
Position trader Bob Lukas said Bitcoin is “Running higher [with] consolidation releasing now” and provided the following chart, saying, “This is the uber bull case for the remainder of this 60-day cycle.”
WeRate co-founder Quinten noted that Bitcoin has historically peaked 480 days after the halving and highlighted that we are currently at 214 days post-halving.
The average #Bitcoin cycle:
Starts 170 days after halving
Peaks 480 days after halving
We are currently 214 days after the $BTC halving pic.twitter.com/05kBArkm05— Quinten | 048.eth (@QuintenFrancois) November 20, 2024
And MN Consultancy founder Michaël van de Poppe said he expects Bitcoin to hit a price of $100,000 to $120,000 in the coming months, at which point altseason will really kick off.
It's great to see this momentum in the markets.
I think we'll, in the coming 1-2 months, see #Bitcoin go to $100-120K and have a final crash on $ETH.
After that, the start of the altseason just like 2017 has been.— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) November 19, 2024
Altcoins record losses as volatility spikes
Altcoins traded mixed amid the volatility for Bitcoin, with a majority of tokens in the top 200 recording losses on Wednesday.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Creditcoin (CTC) recorded an increase of 10.1% to lead the gainers, followed by gains of 8.5% for Cardano (ADA) and Stellar (XLM). Act I: The AI Prophecy (ACT) was the biggest loser, falling 15.5%, while Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) lost 15%, and OriginTrail (TRAC) declined by 14.1%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $3.11 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 60%.
