Bitcoin hits 5-month high of $57,000 despite looming regulation

12 Oct, 2021 08:00

The price of the world’s top cryptocurrency has rallied above $57,000 for the first time since May as traders bet bitcoin would retest the record highs it reached earlier this year.

Bitcoin was up over 1% on Tuesday, trading at $57,387 as of 7:30am GMT, marking a weekly growth of nearly 16%, according to crypto-tracking website CoinMarketCap.

The rally is attributed to several factors, including easing of concern about regulatory efforts in the United States and China and revived enthusiasm about probable approval of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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The one-year correlation between bitcoin and gold has been dropping to the point where it’s about to turn negative, according to NDR’s Pat Tschosik, who said that it means the prices of the two assets are no longer moving in tandem.

“Bitcoin could be seen as the preferred inflation hedge if the dollar and real rates are rising,” the analyst told CNBC.

Bitcoin is now up nearly 30% for the month and 95% for the year. Experts who look at patterns in price charts expect the cryptocurrency to test the next level of resistance of $60,000. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization hit a record high of $65,000 in April.

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