Bitcoin Faces Key Test at $64K as Altcoins Lead Crypto Rally; Options Traders Bet on $70K BTC Next Month

Cryptocurrencies
surged
higher
with
bitcoin

(BTC)
nearing
$64,000
on
Thursday
as
the

Federal
Reserve’s
jumbo
rate
cut
bolstered
risk
appetite
across
asset
classes.

Bitcoin
climbed
nearly
6%
over
the
past
24
hours
from
Wednesday’s
whipsaw
below
$60,000
as
traders
digested
the
Fed’s
decision
to
lower
benchmark
interest
rates
by
50
basis
points,
a
move
many
observers
say
may
mark
the
beginning
of
an
easing
cycle
by
the
U.S.
central
bank.
The
largest
crypto
hit
its
highest
price
this
month
at
$63,800
during
the
U.S.
trading
hours
before
stalling
and
retracing
to
just
above
$63,000.

Ethereum’s
ether

(ETH),
the
second-largest
cryptocurrency
by
market
capitalization,

bounced
off
from
its
crucial
200-week
simple
moving
average
and
was
up
over
7%
during
the
same
period.

The
broad-based
crypto
benchmark
CoinDesk
20
Index
outperformed
BTC
and
ETH
with
its
8%
advance,
indicating
that
altcoins
led
the
market
higher
with
native
tokens
of
Solana

(SOL),
Avalanche

(AVAX)
and
Aptos

(APT)
up
10%-15%.
All
the
20
assets
of
the
index
were
up
today,
underscoring
the
breadth
of
the
rally.

Crypto-focused
stocks
and
listed
bitcoin
miners
also
surged,
with
MicroStrategy
(MSTR)
and
TeraWulf
(WULF)
leading
the
sector
with
10%
gains.

Crypto’s
rally
over
the
past
24
hours
outperformed
most
traditional
financial
asset
classes.
The
S&P
500
and
Nasdaq,
two
stock
indexes
that
bitcoin
recently
has
correlated
with,
traded
1.7%
and
2.5%
higher,
respectively.

This
could
be
because
non-yielding
assets
like
bitcoin
or
gold
are
typically
preferred
investments
when
interest
rates
are
lower,
said
Jim
Iuorio,
managing
director
of
TJM
Institutional
Services
and
host
of
the
Futures
Edge
podcast.

“These
assets
prefer
rates
that
are
lower
than
where
they
should
be
relative
to
the
current
economic
condition,”
he
said.
“They
do
well
in
an
environment
that
could
reignite
inflation.”

The
10-year
U.S.
Treasury
yield
moved
higher
after
the
Federal
Reserve
lowered
interest
rates
on
Wednesday
which
signals
that
inflation
remains
a
worry.
Similarly,
bitcoin’s
uptick
in
price
could
indicate
that
the
Fed’s
decision
to
lower
rates
may
be
premature
and
could
result
in
a
weakening
of
the
U.S.
dollar,
Iuorio
added.

Bitcoin’s
rally
faces
a
key
hurdle
at
the
$64,000
level,
which
was
the
local
peak
last
month,
bouncing
from
the
early
August
crash
due
to
the
strengthening
Japanese
yen
carry
trade.
The
leading
crypto
should
make
a
higher
high
to
break
the
bearish
trend
of
making
consecutive
lower
lows
since
the
$73,000
peak
in
March.

“The
easy
part
of
the
cycle
is
almost
done,”
Bob
Loukas,
a
well-followed
trader
and
analyst,

said,
based
on
bitcoin’s
daily
cycle
pattern.
Cycles
theory
argues
that
price
movements
happen
in
waves
with
roughly
regular
periodicity.
“Soon
bitcoin
will
have
to
work
for
the
gains,”
he
added.

Even
with
a
potential
pullback
in
the
cards,
options
traders
are
anticipating
higher
bitcoin
prices
for
next
month
heading
into
the
historically
bullish
period
for
the
asset.

Options
data
for
October
25,
2024
expiry
on
crypto
derivatives
exchange
Deribit
reveals
significant
interest
at
the
$70,000
strike,
with
$130
million
in
notional
value,
CoinDesk
analyst
James
Van
Stratten
noted.

The
total
open
interest
stands
at
34,199
BTC,
with
a
put/call
ratio
of
0.55,
reflecting
a
strong
bullish
sentiment
in
the
market,
he
added.

While
September
has
been
the
worst
performing
month
for
BTC
with
an
average
loss
of
-4%
since
2013,
the
year-end
period
starting
with
October
usually
brings
the
greatest
returns
for
the
asset,

CoinGlass
data
shows.
October’s
average
monthly
return
is
23%,
while
Q4’s
tally
is
88%
gain,
per
CoinGlass.