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Bitcoin rallied to a new all-time high before quickly pulling back as investors awaited an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this week.
On Monday, the price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by less than 1% at $103,873.00, according to Coin Metrics, after rising as high as $106,509 Sunday night, a new record for it. Ether rose less than 1% to just under the key $4,000 level. The broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, hovered below the flat line. All were up as much as 4% Sunday night.
Among crypto stocks, Coinbase was little changed. However, shares of bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy jumped 4% following the Friday evening announcement that MicroStrategy will join the Nasdaq-100 stock index and heavily traded QQQ ETF later this month.
Bitcoin rises to a new level above $106,000
Investors are expecting the Fed to lower interest rates this week during its two-day policy meeting, which will conclude Wednesday. The CME FedWatch Tool currently forecasts a 96% chance of a 25-basis-point cut. That would likely be positive for the price of bitcoin, which often trades like a tech stock and therefore benefits from lower interest rates.
Lower interest rates also imply a weakening dollar and growing money supply, both of which have demonstrated long-term correlations with bitcoin.
Bitcoin is now up nearly 8% for the month, 50% since the U.S. presidential election and 145% for the year. The promise of a friendlier regulatory environment and potential establishment of a national strategic bitcoin reserve in the incoming Trump administration continues to be a positive catalyst for the digital asset and cryptocurrencies at large.
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