Bitcoin is inches away from $60,000 and not far from all time high seen in April this year.
The cryptocurrency BTCUSD, rose to 59,961 early February New York time, according to CoinDesk data. Bitcoin has recently traded at $59,432, up 3.11% over the past 24 hours. The number is still about 8.4% away from its all-time high of $64,889 in April.
Bitcoin surged more than 3% after Bloomberg reported on Thursday citing sources that the Securities and Exchange Commission is set to greenlight the first U.S. bitcoin futures exchange traded funds. The regulator is not likely to stop money from trading next week, according to the report. Bitcoin also rose about 2% in the early afternoon of Thursday after the SEC s investor education office sent a tweet to investors warning them to weigh the risks and benefits of investing in a fund that holds bitcoin futures contracts. Some investors took it as a signal that a bitcoin futures trading ETF would get approval imminently. The SEC may either reject, approve or delay bitcoin futures ETFs filed by ProShares, Valkyrie Investments, Invesco and VanEck in the next two weeks. Bitcoin blockchain data, with the 200-day and 100-day MAs poised to form a bullish cross and the spike in the illiquid supply, do give reasons for the bullish outlook in the medium term and suggest that BTC is ready for a strong move upwards, Mikkel Morch, executive director of crypto hedge fund ARK 36, wrote through email. A bull cross refers to a bull chart pattern where a long-term moving average crosses above a short-term moving average. Allerdings, a Bitcoin ETF approval is likely already priced in at this point, Morch wrote. Ether ETHUSD was trading at $3,780, up 1.1% over the past 24 hours. XRP XRPUSD (U.S.) is trading at $1.1, with a 1.5% loss over the past 24 hours. Cardano ADAUSD, traded with a loss of 2.18%, the trading at $2.2. DogeUSD is trading at $0.23, down 4.02%. Reading more: A big crypto hedge fund manager expects bitcoin to tumble once the SEC approved a bitcoin-backed ETF. Here's why.