(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin rose by more than 3.7% to over $84,000 in early Europe trading Monday, reaching an eight-month high as it continues a climb that kicked off on Friday.
The original cryptocurrency reached as high as $84,129 before paring some gains. It was trading at around $83,900 at 10 a.m. in London. Ether, the second-largest token, rose by more than 2.8%, while other cryptocurrencies including XRP, Solana and Monero also posted gains.
The jump comes after US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds signaled a return of investor appetite late last week. The ETFs attracted $593 million over Thursday and Friday, counter-balancing heavy outflows on the two days prior to eke out a net increase of $6 million for the week. Bitcoin charged more than 6% higher on Friday.
Bitcoin open interest on the options trading platform Deribit was heavily dominated by calls, signaling bullish sentiment. The platform showed more than 272,000 contracts for the right to buy the token compared with over 154,000 for puts, or the right to sell.
“Bitcoin options market is positioned to capture the upside,” said Pratik Kala, a portfolio manager at digital-asset hedge fund Apollo Crypto. “People are repositioning from downside protection to wanting to capture the upside.”
The change in sentiment came at the end of a bruising week for digital assets that saw the failure of a landmark US crypto bill and the Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate increase in more than three years. A green light on Thursday from the Securities and Exchange Commission for digital versions of securities to start trading in the US helped to brighten the mood.
But traders are not convinced the momentum can last given the difficult macroeconomic headwinds, with crude oil still above $100 a barrel and US Treasury yields elevated.
“For this week, there aren’t any big catalysts to watch out for per se, but any hawkish or dovish remarks by Fed officials could impact the market,” said Jeff Mei, chief operating officer of BTSE.
(Recasts lead to reflect price jump.)
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