Breaking a Familiar Pattern, Bitcoin is higher during the US session, climbing to $70,800 after falling to just above $68,000 earlier in the day.
Bitcoin is now up 0.5% in the last 24 hours, along with Ether XRP and Solana ahead by closer to 1.5% over the same period.
Risk assets are broadly in the green on Monday, with the Nasdaq up 1% and the S&P 500 up 0.5%. Gold is up 1.9% at $5,075 an ounce, and silver is up 7.4% at $82.50 an ounce.
“What we are experiencing is the weakest bitcoin decline in its history,” wrote Bernstein’s Gautam Chhugani, reiterating the company’s year-end price target of $150,000 for bitcoin.
“When all the stars are aligned, [the] The Bitcoin community is manufacturing a self-imposed crisis of confidence,” Chhugani continued. “Nothing has exploded, no skeleton will collapse; [the] The media is back to write an obituary. »
“Time,” Chhugani said, “remains a flat circle on Bitcoin.”
Getting a little more technical, Schwab’s Jim Ferraioli said it’s useful to look to Bitcoin miners to determine when the bottom is reached.
“Previous sales have generally reached a level close to the cost of producing bitcoin,” Ferraioli said. “Miners with less efficient equipment often temporarily shut down their operations… We can see this in real time by observing the mining difficulty adjustment: as more and more miners leave the network, the difficulty decreases. Once it starts to increase again, it’s confirmation that the bottom may have been reached.”
Indeed, CoinDesk reported earlier that bitcoin mining difficulties had just dropped by their largest amount since 2021, as at least some miners capitulated to falling prices.
Crypto Stocks Rise
Crypto exchange Bullish (BLSH) leads the sector higher on Monday with a 14.2% gain. Other big movers included Galaxy Digital (GLXY), up 8.2%, and Circle Financial (CRCL), up 5.1%. Strategy (MSTR) is up 3% and Coinbase (COIN) is up 1%.
Bitcoin miners who have turned to AI infrastructure are showing significant gains, along with positive coverage initiated by Morgan Stanley on TeraWulf (WULF) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) – both are up 14%. Hut 8 (HUT), IREN (IREN) and Bitfarms (BITF) are each ahead by about 7%.
