Crypto investors on rampage as Bitcoin breaks past $23.8K

The rise in Bitcoin and other leading altcoins in January appears to be luring investors back to crypto ETFs.

The amount invested in exchange-traded instruments that track cryptocurrencies increased to more than $210 million in January, the highest level since May. According to data from CryptoCompare, total assets under management increased 37% to $19.7 billion in January.

More details on Bitcoin’s performance: The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (ticker BITO), which witnessed an influx of around $40 million, had its highest month since June. Meanwhile, the Canadian-listed 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF (BTCQ), also experienced an increase of roughly that much.

Also, note that the top-10 list of the best-performing US equities ETFs year to date was filled out by funds focused on cryptocurrencies. For instance, the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) increased by around 100% while the VanEck Digital Assets Mining ETF (DAM) increased by 76%.

This week’s performance: After trading below $23,000 for the majority of the previous week, BTC inched beyond its previous $23,800 barrier mark and rocketed beyond $24,100 at one point on Wednesday.

Crypto bulls have dominated the market, and the four-hour chart for the main cryptocurrency price analysis shows that they are likely to keep up their pace in the near term.

The price breakout experienced a downtrend for the first four hours of today’s trading session. Afterward, there was a brief correction and a strong surge as Bitcoin rallied from $22.8K to $23.5K. The bulls are now back in control as BTC/USD is seen continuing to increase its gains above $23.7K.

Performance of other cryptos: Ether performed even better, surging near the $1,700 market and posting a gain of 5.7% from Tuesday at the same time. Other crypto assets saw a majority of the day in the green, with Layer 1 blockchain Aptos Network’s APT token surging more than 9% to build on its momentum from January and Layer 2 network Optimism’s OPT token, a big winner a week ago, rising almost 25%. APT increased by 387% last month.

The cryptocurrency market has risen to start the year, supported by both the expectation that much of the narrative surrounding FTX’s demise is over and a surge in other asset classes, particularly stocks. In January, the biggest month since October 2021, Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency, increased by around 40%.

Like all risk assets, the fast-evolving market may experience more declines if the economic data released over the next days casts doubt on the Fed’s intention to ease policy this year.