On the morning of October 18, the asset surpassed the $68.2 thousand mark, after which it continued to fluctuate in the range of $67.9–68.1 thousand, reports Kazpravda.kz citing RBC
Analysts believe that a consolidation of Bitcoin's price above $68 thousand will pave the way for further growth. If this occurs, experts have reasons to suggest that the upcoming weeks and months will be "green." The next psychologically significant level is considered to be $70 thousand.
At 13:00 Astana time on October 18, the price of BTC hovers around $68 thousand. Over the past day, the leading coin has increased by 1.2%, and by 11.6% over the week. Bitcoin's dominance in the cryptocurrency market reached 59% in the last 24 hours, according to TradingView.
The inflow of investor funds into American spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the incomplete trading week amounted to $1.86 billion—this is the highest value since March when Bitcoin reached its historical maximum, according to SoSoValue. During the trading week from March 11 to 15, the capital inflow into the funds exceeded $2.57 billion.
Spot ETFs involve the actual purchase of cryptocurrency to back the fund's shares or its sale upon redemption. The funds managed by BlackRock, Fidelity, and other companies hold Bitcoin worth $64 billion. As of the trading session on October 17, the net inflow of funds into all spot funds amounted to $470 million, of which $309 million went to BlackRock's fund.
The Fear and Greed Index in the cryptocurrency market reflects the continued positive sentiment among investors. The indicator has been in the "greed" zone for four days, showing 73 points out of 100 on October 18.
Ethereum (ETH) is lagging behind the growth of the first cryptocurrency. The leading altcoin has increased by 0.2% over the day, reaching $2.63 thousand. The ETH to BTC exchange rate is fluctuating at lows not seen since spring 2021.
The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies fell by 0.2% over 24 hours to $2.44 trillion. The trading volume over the last 24 hours was approximately $112 million.
The majority of other cryptocurrencies in the top 10 by market capitalization showed slight growth within 1.5%. Only Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 10.3% over the day. XRP (XRP) from Ripple decreased more than others—by 0.7%. Toncoin (TON) increased in price by 1%.
Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, the largest growth was shown by two "cat" meme coins: Popcat (POPCAT) and cat in a dogs world (MEW), which increased by 14% and 10% respectively. The biggest price drop over the day was seen in the cryptocurrency Maker (MKR)—by 5.1%.
Earlier this week, Standard Chartered stated that Bitcoin could surpass its historical maximum ($73,750) before the U.S. presidential elections scheduled for November 5. Analysts' forecasts are based on the current growth dynamics of BTC.