Is it a good time to buy or sell?

Flagship digital asset Bitcoin is on a high. The market price of the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization jumped over the $38,000 mark, its highest price in over 15 months, according to data from Coinmarketcap.

This rally is coming as bullish sentiment continues to mount in the market. Recall that last week, investors digested the Binance settlement and Changpeng Zhao’s resignation announcement news, and the market reacted decently. 

What followed that development was hype around the expectation that a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) would be approved. 

Per numbers, Bitcoin price has risen by 120% this year and most analysts foresee further gains in the near term. Apart from the fact that Bitcoin Halving, which is a bullish indicator is coming in April 2024, there is an expectation that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve one or more spot ETFs soon.

However, most investors are still concerned about Bitcoin and the broader market chances of ‘mooning’ any time soon. Let’s take a look at what analysts are saying.

Bitcoin has reacted well to the Binance upheaval 

Initially, Bitcoin price showed unclear direction after Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s guilty plea and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) $4.3 billion settlement with Binance last week. However, after taking some time to digest the outcome, it became clear that Binance was not experiencing a mass exodus of funds like FTX did when its liquidity crisis first became public.

While Binance’s Bitcoin reserves are their lowest since 2017, it still maintains the largest amount of BTC compared to other centralized exchanges. In comparison, FTX BTC reserves were depleted by 99.9% from the all-time high when the exchange experienced a run on the bank in November 2022 and never recovered.

With the strong showing of Binance and Bitcoin, a sustained uptrend for Bitcoin and much of the rest of the digital asset market is demonstrably clear and a strong accumulation is happening.

This could be a time to buy Bitcoin

Some Bitcoin analysts believe the United States Department of Justice and Binance settlement is bullish for a spot Bitcoin ETF approval, noting a similar deal achieved by Arthur Hayes and BitMEX. Taking the positive sentiment further, some believe the Binance settlement is positive for the entire crypto market.

ETF approval, with its numerous applicants which include BlackRock, Fidelity, ARK Invest and 21Shares is a tremendous deal for the crypto industry. According to a prediction by CoinTelegraph, an approval could generate around $600 billion in new demand for Bitcoin and the crypto market.

Also, CryptoQuant analysts believe that an ETF approval would lead to a $1 trillion increase in Bitcoin’s market capitalization and Galaxy Digital foresee a 74% increase within 12 months of the approval.

Additionally, although some investors may be awaiting increased liquidity from approved ETFs, data has shown that institutional investors are already deploying funds to Bitcoin and crypto. Per CoinShares, institutional investors have pushed more than $1.5 billion into crypto products in the last year. 

CoinTelegraph says Bitcoin has claimed $1.5 billion out of the $1.66 billion pushed into crypto products in the past 12 months. Also, in the last week, $311 million of institutional inflow was for Bitcoin alone which is the highest inflow since November 2021 – when Bitcoin hit its all-time high of $68,000.

With all these metrics coupled with the anticipated ETF approval by January 10, 2024, the bull run might be nearer than we think. This could be a time to buy Bitcoin.