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It has been quite the end of the month for the crypto industry. As of 4 p.m. in Hong Kong Tuesday, Bitcoin was trading above US$34,000, having jumped 26% for the month, according to data from CoinGecko<\/a>. Ether was up 6.8% to flirt with the US$1,800 resistance level. A host of other altcoins are also on the rise.<\/p>\n The price pump arrived just in time to save Bitcoin\u2019s \u2018Uptober\u2019 narrative \u2014 a widespread belief among crypto advocates that after the dog days of summer, when the digital asset market tends to suffer, a more favorable wind begins to blow from October. Buoyed by those autumnal tailwinds, the narrative goes, each year ends brightly for crypto.<\/p>\n While dismissed by many market analysts as a coincidence, there is some truth to the narrative. Data on Bitcoin \u2014 the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency which has a market capitalization comprising more than half of the entire crypto market \u2014 shows that October has only seen a negative end-of-month result for the coin once since 2015. That compares to the month of September, which has seen Bitcoin growth end the month in the negative six times over the same period.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCrypto is fueled by narratives a lot of the time, and we\u2019ve seen that historically,\u201d said Clara Medalie, head of growth at market intelligence provider Kaiko. \u201cUptober,\u201d Medalie added, \u201cis like one of the many crypto narratives that are often used to explain price movements.\u201d<\/p>\n While those narratives may stem from a desire among crypto traders \u2014 as with participants in all markets \u2014 to buy any sign that the arrow will go up on their investment, they often contain at least a kernel of truth. For this Uptober, that kernel of truth is tied to the very real and growing possibility<\/a> that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could approve a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).<\/p>\n Rumors that an approval could be imminent first began to emerge on Oct. 16, with the token range bound at US$28,000. Just over a week later on Oct. 24, the price broke through US$35,000 before settling down slightly to its current level.<\/p>\n \u201cThe October bounce we are seeing appears linked to just one catalyst: enthusiasm over a possible ETF approval,\u201d Medalie said. \u201cThere are real signs that an ETF approval could be just around the corner, so I think the enthusiasm is not for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n