Bitcoin price surged briefly above $64,000 on Feb. 28 before retracing toward the $62,000 zone. The surge was accompanied by record volumes in spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and a spike in crypto liquidations.
As of 3:35 pm UTC, the pioneer cryptocurrency was exchanging hands at $62,669, up 5% over the last 24 hours.
The latest rally has seen a 93% spike in Bitcoin’s (BTC) daily trading volume to $90.2 billion. Its market capitalization has increased to $1.23 billion, cementing its top spot as the most valuable cryptocurrency, according to the CoinMarketCap ranking table.
The spike in Bitcoin price has been mostly attributed to increased inflows into the new spot Bitcoin ETFs.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs see record daily inflows
Spot Bitcoin ETFs continue to suck in capital, with the funds reaching a record $673 million of net inflows on Feb. 28 as BTC soared past $64,000. Data from Farside Investors shows these figures surpassed the previous high of $655.2 million set on Jan. 11 when they began trading.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust put up around $6.12 million of that amount, its highest inflow so far. The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund came in second with around $245.2 million, and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF was third with $23.8 million. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust was still negative, with outflows totaling $216.4 million on Feb. 28.
More data from BitMEX Research reveals that the nine new Bitcoin ETFs tallied net inflows of roughly $7.4 billion, the highest since their launch.
“Only one or two other ETFs on the planet are taking in cash as fast as $IBIT right now. Gonna hit $10b tomorrow prob. Easily fastest ever at 7 weeks,” Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on X. “For context, it took $GLD over two years to hit 10b, VOO over 3 years.”
Bitcoin price volatility results in heavy crypto liquidations
Bitcoin price volatility resulted in heavy liquidations of leveraged positions across the crypto market. During the early Asian trading hours on Feb. 29, as the price hovered around $63,500, short positions worth $435 million had been liquidated over the last 24 hours against $364 million long liquidations, according to data from Coinglass.
As the New York trading session began with prices around $62,500, a total of $683 million — comprising $341 million in longs and $341 million in shorts—were liquidated within 24 hours.
Approximately $143 million of Bitcoin shorts were liquidated in the last 24 hours against $102 million long positions.
The largest single liquidation order happened on OKX for the BTC/USDT SWAP, valued at $9.35 million.
Related: Bitcoin price hits $64K as traders anticipate new all-time high before halving
As inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs increase and the supply halving event draws near, investors expect the fresh round of Bitcoin’s bullish price action to continue.
Bitcoin faces ”literally no resistance” to the upside
Independent analyst Ali posted on X showing IntoTheBlock’s In/Out of the Money Around Price (IOMAP) chart, saying Bitcoin’s price faces “literally no resistance ahead.”
The chart showed a significant support zone between $54,300 and $56,200, where approximately 903,540 addresses previously bought nearly 500,000 BTC.
There is literally no resistance ahead of #Bitcoin. All we see is a major support wall between $54,300 and $56,200 where 903,540 addresses bought nearly 500,000 $BTC. pic.twitter.com/ZMeVkWyS4A
— Ali (@ali_charts) February 28, 2024
The IOMAP chart showed that approximately 89.75% were in the money at the current price versus 9.24% who were out of it. This is a relatively small percentage to effectively resist attempts to push the price even if they wanted to break even.
The weekly chart below shows that the support level described above has previously provided a good bounce level for BTC. That was in 2021, when the price pivoted off this level first to set a swing high at $64,500 and later ran up to all-time highs at $69,000 on Nov. 10 that year.
The relative strength index’s (RSI) position at 85 and the upward-facing moving averages validate buyers’ dominance in the market.
On the downside, Ali warned short-term traders that the TD Sequential indicator had flashed a sell signal on the four-hour chart. If this is confirmed, it may result in “$BTC price corrections between 1.50% and 4.20%,” as has happened in the past.
The TD Sequential flashes a sell signal on the #Bitcoin 4-hour chart!
— Ali (@ali_charts) February 29, 2024
Since Feb 15, every sell signal from this indicator has been spot-on, leading to $BTC price corrections between 1.50% and 4.20%. This is a pattern worth noting for traders eyeing short-term movements! pic.twitter.com/TQhSG78WF3
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
