Bitcoin reclaims six-figure mark, crossing $100,00 for the first time in three months

A number of tailwinds have boosted the token recently, but broadly it has been moving in line with other risk assets like stocks

Bitcoin price rose again on Thursday, hitting a new three-month high of over $100,000. The token has been moving largely in step with other risk assets, as markets digest the implications of April’s historic bout of volatility, which was triggered by tariffs.

Bitcoin was trading at around $99,636 by 08:05 ET (12:05 GMT), up about 1.4%. Earlier in the session, the token hit an intraday high of $101,370, the highest level since early February.

A number of tailwinds have boosted the token recently. Similar to stocks, bitcoin gained on Tuesday on news that the White House had reached a trade agreement with the UK, a positive sign that could help to unwind last month’s tariff uncertainty and reignite risk appetite among investors.

Analysts have also suggested that April’s trade chaos may have positioned bitcoin to climb as tariffs diminish the appeal of safe havens, such as the US dollar and Treasurys.

Standard Chartered said that inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs have surged to $5.3 billion over the past three weeks, suggesting that demand has ballooned since mid-April.

Meanwhile, New Hampshire and Arizona introduced the country’s first crypto reserves this week. But to Zack Shapiro, head of policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, the impact of state crypto reserves is likely to be small compared to Wall Street’s soaring appetite.

Institutional interest is helping to send bitcoin higher, as companies have entered something of an “arms race” to acquire a meaningful stake, he told BI.

Strategy, at the forefront of this effort, is now funding a plan to spend $84 billion on more bitcoin acquisitions.

Given these factors, bitcoin should make new highs this quarter, the bank’s global head of digital assets research wrote on Thursday. The bank has predicted the token to hit $120,000 in the second quarter but said in the note that the target might be too low.

But others think that while progress on trade gives bitcoin fuel for more gains in the near term, heightened volatility is still a risk for traders as tariff uncertainty stays high.

"Plus, at the moment, BTC is rallying on low volume, which is a recipe for short-term volatility," said Ben Puckrin, senior market analyst at the bank, in a note.