Bitcoin broke through its previous record high and traded above $70,000 early Friday.<\/p>\n
The milestone was short-lived, however. BTC dropped from an intraday high of $70,168 to $67,045 in a matter of minutes \u2013 highlighting the notorious volatility that characterizes the asset.<\/p>\n Notwithstanding today\u2019s roller coaster, Bitcoin has been on an unstoppable uptrend, driven by two main events: spot Bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming halving.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Bloomberg\u2019s senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, in 7 weeks, Bitcoin ETFs have captured inflows that took gold ETFs three years. The nine ETF providers cumulatively hold over $50 billion<\/a> in assets under management and own 4%<\/a> of Bitcoin\u2019s total 21 million supply.<\/p>\n Bitcoin analyst Dylan LeClair noted today that by 11:00 am EST, BlackRock\u2019s IBIT fund had already surpassed its Mar. 07 trading volume. \u201cPatience, degens. They’re literally coming with tens of billions of dollars,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Balchunas echoes his views, highlighting a truly impressive number and claiming, \u201csomething is in the water again.\u201d The ten Bitcoin ETFs are on pace to beat Tuesday\u2019s $10 billion in volume, with BlackRock doing $1 billion an hour. \u201cA billion a day is big boy level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The second event is the halving<\/a>, expected in mid-April. Usually, Bitcoin begins to run up prior to the event as market participants anticipate less supply available \u2013 although fuelled by the ETFs, the rally has been much more dramatic this cycle.<\/p>\n Notably, this is the first time Bitcoin has broken its previous all-time high before a halving.<\/p>\n \u201cQuantitative hardening\u201d as some call it<\/a>, is set to occur around Apr. 16.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Start for free<\/a><\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Wild price swings were seen across most major digital assets.<\/p>\n Ethereum, the second-largest crypto, had its own brief time to shine today as it topped $4,000 for the first time since Dec. 2021. Surpassing the level by a few dollars, it dropped back down to $3,883 minutes later.<\/p>\n Ether has gained a whopping 65% in the past month, outperforming Bitcoin by nearly 10%.<\/p>\n Catalysts for ETH include the imminent Dencun upgrade<\/a> and the potential approval of a spot ETH ETF, with financial firms lining up their applications with the SEC. Other indicators are also shining bright, with DefiLlama reporting that DeFi’s total value locked topped $100 billion for the first time since May 2022. It has since dropped to $96 billion.<\/p>\n Some might be suffering from bear market PTSD, but all signs indicate a healthy bull run. Since Feb. 1, the entire crypto market has gained $1 trillion in market cap, according to Coingecko<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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Market-wide Volatility<\/h2>\n
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