Bitcoin continues to hit new highs as Trump says he would be a cryptocurrency supporter if re-elected

Bull market momentum continued to drive prices higher across the cryptocurrency ecosystem on Monday as Bitcoin (BTC) hit a new all-time high above $72,700, while numerous altcoins posted double-digit gains earlier in the week.

Stocks have been the opposite, coming under pressure at the market open and struggling to regain their footing as investors wait for Tuesday's consumer price index (CPI) to get a better sense of what's next on the interest rates. After last week's jobs report came in hotter than expected, Wall Street became more uncertain about whether the first rate cut would come in May, now putting the chance of a rate cut in June at 70%.

At the closing bell, the S&P and Nasdaq closed down 0.11% and 0.41%, respectively, while the Nasdaq gained 0.12%.

Data provided by TradingView shows that an early morning bearish attack on support at $68,000 was soundly rejected by bulls, who then pushed the price action higher to hit a record high of $72,970 in the afternoon.

BTC/USD chart from TradingView

At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $72,110, up 3.8% on the 24-hour chart.

Positive catalysts

“Bitcoin has hit another all-time high, a cause for celebration for long-term long-only investors, but a challenge for short-term traders and risk takers,” said a report from analysts at Bitfinex. “Such strong market movements have resulted in significant liquidations among traders with both long and short positions.”

“Last week alone, on March 5, when BTC hit a new high, the subsequent reversal as prices declined led to nearly $900 million in long liquidations, the highest in a single day since three years,” they stated.

“However, underlying spot demand for BTC remains strong, as evidenced by the continued significant inflows into the spot Bitcoin ETFs,” they said. “Despite the volatility on March 5, the same day saw the highest ETF inflows to date in March, indicating continued strong investor interest.”

“The altcoin sector is also experiencing a significant upswing, with the Total3 index climbing to over $720 billion in terms of market capitalization,” the report said. “This increase reflects a growing interest in alternative cryptocurrencies, with a particular – and enigmatic – focus on meme coins as well as AI-related projects.”

“The AI ​​sector in particular has seen an explosion of interest and development, with new projects launching and existing ones expanding, highlighting the potential for synergies between AI and blockchain,” the analysts noted. “Speculation has also expanded to dog and even cat-themed tokens, leading to increased trading volume of tokens on the Solana blockchain – on which some of the meme tokens are based – reaching levels close to those of Ethereum. “

“The broader economy saw a slowdown in service industry growth, but this was offset by a significant increase in new orders,” the report said. “Inflation is showing signs of easing as the business inputs price index has fallen from its recent peak. “Still, the labor market remains robust, job vacancies remain stable and continue to challenge the Federal Reserve’s goals to cool the market and consider interest rate cuts.”

In addition to developments like the upcoming halving driving up the price of Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency is also benefiting from positive press, including comments from former US President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump that his administration may take a positive stance on the issue could take cryptocurrency if he were re-elected to the White House.

“[Bitcoin has] taken [on] his own life. “Sometimes I do little things for fun and make money,” Trump said. Although he said that he had not personally purchased Bitcoin directly, “[will] Let people pay with Bitcoin sometimes.”

“If you think about it, it’s an additional form of currency,” Trump said. “These are crazy new currencies. That’s what I call them, you know, whether they’re Bitcoin or otherwise.”

These comments marked a notable shift from his opinion on Bitcoin during his time in office, when he called cryptocurrencies a “scam” and reportedly called on Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to “go after Bitcoin.”

And Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman caused a stir when he suggested that now could be a good time for him to make his first investment in Bitcoin, as the price appears set to rise significantly.

“One scenario,” Ackman tweeted. “The rise in Bitcoin prices leads to increased mining and higher energy consumption, which drives up energy costs, leads to an increase in inflation and a fall in the dollar, which increases demand for Bitcoin and increased mining, which increases the Demand for energy increases, and the cycle continues.”

“Bitcoin is going to infinity, energy prices are skyrocketing and the economy is collapsing,” he said. “Maybe I should buy some Bitcoin.”

Altcoins are starting the week strong

It was an overall positive day for the altcoin market as the majority of tokens in the top 200 posted gains on Monday.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Celo (CELO) was the biggest gainer, up 48.2%, followed by a 28.3% gain for Moonbeam (GLMR) and a 26.4% gain for Metis (METIS). Ribbon Finance (RBN), Gala (GALA) and Jupiter (JUP) were the biggest losers, posting declines of 8.4%, 8.1% and 6.3%, respectively.

The total cryptocurrency market cap is currently $2.71 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 52.2%.

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