The crypto currency rose to $24,069.00, after rising as high as $24,249.70 Wednesday, its highest level since Aug. 17
Bitcoin touched the $24,000 level briefly on Thursday, reaching a key technical level and building on its January rally.
The rise came a day after the US Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point. But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell noted that a disinflationary process has begun, calming investors who are betting on inflation to drop and causing them to take on more risk.
The world’s largest crypto currency by volume was last trading around 1 per cent up at $23,821.00, as per Coin Metrics. Bitcoin rose to $24,069.00 earlier in the afternoon, after rising to $24,249.70 on Wednesday night, its highest level since August 17.
The market took the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) as dovish, but bitcoin’s rally remains precarious, according to Yuya Hasegawa, crypto market analyst at Japanese bitcoin exchange Bitbank. The price did increase on Wednesday, but failed to finish above $24k and its momentum appears to be declining.
Hasegawa echoed the Fed’s warning that although inflation seems to be decelerating, it ‘remains elevated’ and the central bank will need ‘substantially more evidence to confidently say that inflation is coming near their 2 per cent target.’
The climb also coincided with a wider rally in stocks led by the Nasdaq as well as a drop in U.S. Treasury yields and the U.S. Dollar Currency Index (DXY), which tend to move inversely to crypto.
Bitcoin has rallied over 40 per cent since the beginning of 2023, quickly paring losses from its ravaging 2022. Many investors and analysts are cautious, however, that in spite of the current bullish trend, crypto is not ready for a rocket ship rally yet, and prices could pull back at least once more before it is.
January was bitcoin’s best month since October 2021 and its best month since 2013.
