Bitcoin’s all-time high brings $788M inflows to IBIT

Bitcoin’s volatility hit a yearly high as the cryptocurrency clocked a new record price

March 6, 2024 10:18 am

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink | World Economic Forum / Greg Beadle/"Global Economic Outlook" (CC license)

As bitcoin surged to a fresh all-time high Tuesday, BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF clocked a record $788 million in inflows.

Bitcoin topped $69,170 Tuesday morning in New York, the highest recorded price in more than two years. The largest cryptocurrency posted a mild correction later in the day, losing as much as 14% to just briefly dip just below $60,000, but analysts say the expected pullback is no reason to panic.

“If yesterday’s moves permanently scared away many who do not want this kind of action in their portfolios, then that is good news for them and for the market,” Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, said. “The damage could have been worse had the price run up further and faster, bringing in even more retail participants convinced the only risk was in missing out.”

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Bitcoin’s volatility is hitting a year-high, according to the 30-day rolling annualized index, a sign, Acheson said, that price swings are not abnormal, “it’s just been a while.”

Bitcoin (BTC) was trading around 2% lower at $66,390 at time of publication after nearly hitting $69,000 earlier in the day.

The iShares Bitcoin ETF (ticker IBIT) also topped charts for trading volume Tuesday, hitting a record $3.7 billion in value traded at the close. Volumes for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) followed with $2.8 billion and $2 billion, respectively.

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Stocks opened higher Wednesday after Tuesday’s tech-driven selloff, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posting gains of 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively, after the bell.

The early moves come ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony before the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday. Powell’s Washington tour continues Thursday when he is scheduled to head to the Senate Banking Committee.

“The internals of [Tuesday’s] decline suggest that investors are not worried about a shift in monetary policy, but rather just taking a bit off the table after Tech’s recent gains,” Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, said.

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