FX168 Financial News (North America) News Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rose sharply on Thursday, reaching their highest levels since the U.S. approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds last month. The token price has broken through key levels, potentially paving the way for more gains. 

Bitcoin prices have risen 4.5% over the past 24 hours and are near $44,800, reaching their highest level since mid-January. At the time, there was a trading frenzy due to traders' anticipation and approval of spot bitcoin ETFs, and the price had surged near nearly $49,000. The sharp rally comes after a multi-week slump in Bitcoin, with the price falling below the psychologically important $40,000 mark at some point, raising fears of a correction.

"Bitcoin's rise above its 50-day moving average confirms its medium-term bullish trend and alleviates fears of a deeper correction," said Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at broker FxPro, "The rally reached its highest level since January 12, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 hit record highs." ”

In fact, Bitcoin's rally has been carried out in tandem with the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and especially the tech-heavy Nasdaq rising, largely due to optimism over the growth in demand due to artificial intelligence. Bitcoin has proven to be associated with risk-sensitive assets such as stocks, so broader risk appetite sentiment in the market should help support the price of the cryptocurrency.

As Bitcoin breaks through higher levels, the technology market backdrop is becoming more optimistic, and analysts are eyeing the possibility of more rally ahead.

"Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market have gained strong momentum after a long period of consolidation and are now preparing to hit new highs," Kuptsikevich said, adding that a break above the $49,000 high will confirm the pattern with $64,000 as a target." ”

In addition to Bitcoin, Ethereum – the second-largest cryptocurrency – rose 2.5% to $2,420. Smaller tokens or alternative coins also rose, with Cardano up 11%, Polygon up 5%, and Dogecoin up 2%.