Bitcoin price rose on Thursday as the apex coin approached the key $100,000 level amid a broader shift in investor appetite toward riskier assets, fueled by macroeconomic concerns and the looming threat of US tariffs.
The largest token slid as much as 3.1% to reach a high of $97,483, the highest since February 21. Bitcoin last traded at $100,000 on February 7. Many smaller tokens advanced even more, with Dogecoin climbing 4.8% and Ether gaining 3.3%.
The respite in the digital-asset market came amid an uptick in the spot markets with muted demand for derivatives that are typically used for adding leverage, suggesting a shift toward momentum trading from a trend in which Bitcoin prices are largely driven by macroeconomic factors such as inflation and tariffs.
Exchange-traded funds tracking Bitcoin and Ether raked in over $3.2 billion last week, with the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker IBIT) alone seeing a nearly $1.5 billion inflow — the most this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Liquidations in both bullish and bearish bets on crypto assets remain subdued while demand for upside exposure in the options market has increased with the call options with the strike price of $100,000 seeing the most open interest across all tenors, according to data compiled by Coinglass and the largest crypto options exchange Deribit.
“Market sentiment has broadly shifted in favour of momentum-based trades fuelled by spot demand, as BTC breaches levels not seen since early February,” said Chris Newhouse, director of research at Ergonia, a DeFi trading firm. BTC continues to shift between correlations with gold and equities — highlighting a more nuanced and dynamic relationship with macro factors balanced with short-term momentum and spot demand.”
The crypto market saw a sharp drop early last month as Trump unveiled his tariffs against some of the largest US trading partners. Investors rotated their capital out of digital assets amid the risk-off environment, triggering sizable liquidations in crypto futures contracts.
