Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency in the market, has created a buzz in the crypto community as it shoots above the $72,000 mark on April 8. This comes after a global crypto market price correction in the first week of the month. Consequently, the general market cap has grown by 3.84% in the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin (BTC) leads global rally
Bitcoin has broken out of the $72k price level after undergoing about three weeks of severe resistance around roughly $71,500. The recent price development underscores the positive sentiment among investors in the market as portrayed in the crypto fear & greed index data. According to Alternative, the metric points to 76 which signifies ‘extreme greed.’
At the time of writing, BTC is changing hands at $72,353 with a 52.80% market dominance. Additionally, Bitcoins’ trading volume has surged by over 56% to $31.3 billion, and its market cap has spiked to $1.4 trillion. In hindsight, Bitcoin has grown by 4% in the last seven days and by 7.2% over the last month.
Factors behind the current Bitcoin price rally
The current Bitcoin price movement can be attributed to several reasons. One of the factors is the upcoming Bitcoin halving event scheduled to take place on April 18. During this time, the block rewards given to miners will be cut in half and this helps to reduce the rate of new Bitcoin entering circulation.
CryptoQuant’s study data indicates that by the end of this month, the cost of mining Bitcoin for all common and latest miners, S19 XP, will have doubled from $40k to about $80k. Historically, the price of Bitcoin has surged significantly following the halving event.
After the 2012 halving, the price of Bitcoin increased exponentially by over 9000% to $1,162. Following the 2016 halving, the price surged by more than 4000% to $19,800. Finally, the value of BTC grew by 683% to $69k after the 2020 halving. As investors gear up for this year’s halving, there are predictions that the price will shoot above $80,000.
Growing institutional interest
Another significant reason for the Bitcoin price action is the growing interest from institutional investors. After the spot Bitcoin ETF approval earlier this year, lots of major investors have shown interest in the digital asset. Notably Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and UBS investment bank as well as Citadel market-making firms have been leading the charge of new institutional interest.
Lastly, it is interesting to note that China Southern Fund, which oversees assets worth over $284 billion, apparently requested to establish a spot Bitcoin exchange fund through Hong Kong. With the growing interest among these top players, the major forecast of BTC price reaching $85,000 might come to fruition soon.
