The world’s biggest cryptocurrency rose 4% in the past 24 hours to $66,264.2 by 08:54 ET (12:54 GMT). The token had pushed as high as $66,700, before losing some momentum.
Bitcoin rebounded on Wednesday after sinking as low as $60,000 earlier this week.
The rebound was fueled largely by a slide in the dollar, which hit one-month lows after some softer consumer price index readings for April.
Headline CPI grew at a slower-than-expected pace, while core CPI eased as expected.
The readings, which were accompanied by weaker-than-expected retail sales data, pushed up some hopes that inflation will ease in the coming months and give the Federal Reserve more confidence to begin trimming interest rates.
But inflation still remained well above the central bank’s annual 2% target range. A slew of Fed officials also warned in recent weeks that the bank will need much more confidence to begin trimming rates.
This notion limited any major gains in Bitcoin, keeping the token trading comfortably within a $60,000 to $70,000 trading range established over the past two months. Increased risk appetite, which was reflected in Wall Street hitting record highs, also did not spill over into crypto.
The prospect of regulatory headwinds bode poorly for crypto markets, especially as recent reports suggested the Securities and Exchange Commission was mobilizing more regulatory action against the sector.
Bitcoin’s rangebound performance also comes as capital flows and trading activity in spot exchange-traded funds, which were a key driver of its March rally, largely stagnated in recent weeks.
Bullish sentiment for riskier assets following soft inflation figures could drive bitcoin prices toward $74,000 in the coming days as institutional demand continues to grow, according to a Singapore-based crypto asset trading firm QCP Capital.
The softer-than-expected CPI data triggered a breakout for BTC, with the asset regained the $66,000 mark for the first time since April and posted its biggest single-day gain since March.
This move, coupled with demand from traditional finance, could see Bitcoin regaining its March record of $73,700, QCT traders noted.
“We expect bullish momentum here that could take us back to the highs of nearly $74,000,” they said. “The desk saw sizeable buyers of $100K-$120k BTC Calls for Dec 2024 on this move higher in spot.”
“Institutional demand for bitcoin continues to grow, with large asset managers Millennium and Schonfeld investing approximately 3% and 2% of their AUM into the BTC spot ETF.”
Multiple filings on Wednesday revealed that several big-name funds, such as Millennium Management and Elliott Capital, held millions worth of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in their portfolios.
Meanwhile, some analysts note that selling pressure on bitcoin appears to have eased, citing on-chain and exchange data.
Major altcoins also clocked sharp gains on Thursday, although a bulk of tokens remained well below highs hit in March, when they had piggybacked the Bitcoin rally.
World no.2 token Ethereum rose 1.4%, while XRP added 2.2%.
Solana was an outperformer, rising 9.5% to an over one-month high. Still, the token also remained well below its 2024 peaks.
Source: Cryptocurrency - investing.com
