Bitcoin breaks $57,000 to reach within 20% of all-time-high

• Bitcoin breaks $57,000 as BlackRock’s IBIT hits record with $1.3 billion
• BTC could reach or break past its all-time high before the halving

Bitcoin’s pre-halving rally has seen the bellwether crypto reach $57,000, pushing to within just 20% of its all-time high of $69,000 in 2021.

After breaking past the $54,000 level, Bitcoin price extended its gains to above $57k late Monday. On Coinbase, BTC rose to $57,250, with total short liquidations reaching $271 million. Bitcoin accounted for $189 million of the liquidated shorts.

Ethereum’s surge to highs of $3,280 also saw over $67.8 million shorts liquidated.

However, altcoins were largely spectators to Bitcoin’s bullish show. Market intelligence platform Santiment shared this on X Tuesday morning.

“#Bitcoin has now scratched its way to a market value as high as $57,250, reaching within 19.9% of the $68.6K high established 27 months ago. Now at a pivotal moment, traders’ interest in $BTC is exceedingly high as #altcoins have temporarily taken a back seat.”

BlackRock’s IBIT trades $1 billion worth of shares

Bitcoin’s rally coincided with a stellar performance by spot Bitcoin ETFs, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ($IBIT) outpacing the rest. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, $IBIT accounted for $1.3 billion of the total $2.4 billion volume recorded on Monday.

It’s official..the New Nine Bitcoin ETFs have broken all time volume record today with $2.4b, just barely beating Day One but about double their recent daily average. $IBIT went wild accounting for $1.3b of it, breaking its record by about 30%. pic.twitter.com/MiCs1rzttM

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 26, 2024

The upside momentum also followed news that MicroStrategy had purchased 3,000 BTC, bringing its total to 193,000 BTC acquired for a total $6.09 billion. The company’s latest BTC purchase was for $155 million.

Bitcoin was trading around $56,430 early morning on Tuesday.