Bitcoin breaks past $42k, hitting a five-day high

On Jan 26, 2024

The price of Bitcoin surpassed $42,000 on Jan. 26 amidst significant spot Bitcoin ETF flows and an upgrade to Coinbase’s stock rating.

Bitcoin (BTC) was valued at $42,040.36 with a market cap of $824.4 billion at 8:05 pm UTC on Friday. That marks 5.3% growth over 24 hours.

Bitcoin’s current price also represents a five-day high, as prices were close to $40,000 on Jan. 24 and 25 and as low as $38,678 on Jan. 23

The cryptocurrency market in its entirety was up 4.6% over 24 hours. Other top ten assets saw comparable price gains today: Avalanche (AVAX) was up 7.3%, Solana (SOL) was up 5.9%, XRP was up 3.7%, BNB was up 3.5%, Cardano (ADA) was up 3.3%, and Ethereum (ETH) was up 1.9%.

The market saw $116 million in liquidations over 24 hours, according to Coinglass data, with Bitcoin (BTC) accounting for $43.23 million of liquidations and Ethereum (ETH) accounting for $23.52 million of liquidations.

Liquidation data for Jan. 26, via Coinglass

Gains may be due to ETF flows, Coinbase rating

Though it is not entirely known why Bitcoin has gained value today, spot Bitcoin ETF inflows and outflows are one major influence on the market.

Outflows from Grayscale’s GBTC ETF are now slowing and may have largely concluded, according to a report from JP Morgan on Jan. 25. High GBTC outflows put more Bitcoin (BTC) onto the market, providing a larger supply in comparison to investor demand. Such outflows likely contributed to falling Bitcoin prices in the weeks following various spot Bitcoin ETF approvals on Jan. 10.

Conversely, inflows into other funds have taken Bitcoin off the market and may be helping to raise prices. Although most spot Bitcoin ETFs have positive inflows, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) notably crossed $2 billion in total inflows on Jan. 26. Net inflows for all spot Bitcoin ETFs amount to $744 million.

Other positive developments may have influenced crypto prices as well. Yahoo! Finance analysts noted that Coinbase (COIN)’s stock rating has been upgraded by Oppenheimer & Co. The price of COIN is also up 3.40% today.