Bitcoin Demand Surges in Bullish Catalyst That May Drive BTC Price to $70K
2024-10-17

Bitcoin's {{BTC}} demand is returning after being mostly muted since May, with apparent demand spiking to a monthly growth of 177,000 BTC last week in a move that preceded a 5% rally.
Bitcoin is up 11% on-week, according to CoinDesk Indices data, beating the CoinDesk 20 (CD20), an index of the largest digital assets, which is up 9.6% during the same time period.
That’s the largest reading since late April and has helped push BTC to a ten-week high price level of over $67,800, analysts at CryptoQuant led by Julio Moreno said in a weekly report.
“An expansion of apparent demand is necessary for bitcoin prices to rally sustainably to a new all-time high. In these cases, apparent demand peaked at 490,000-550,000 BTC,” Moreno said, indicating more room for prices to grow.
The chart below shows how positive and growing apparent demand preceded the BTC price rallies to new record highs in 2020-2021 and 2024.
Spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the USA have been net buyers, with positive inflows of an average of almost 9,000 BTC daily in Q1 2024, helping to drive the price of bitcoin to fresh highs.
Data from SoSoValue shows that the U.S. BTC ETFs had another significant day of inflows Wednesday, with $458.5 million. Of all the listed products, Blackrock’s IBIT took in the most at $393.4 million.
Other large investors also continue to accumulate bitcoin. The total balance of bitcoin whales - or influential large holders - excluding exchanges and mining pools, has continued to expand yearly, growing to 670,000 BTC. Moreover, the growth of holdings stands above its 365-day moving average, a positive sign for prices.
The BTC open interest (OI) weighted perpetual futures funding rate spiked to a multi-month high of over 0.0136% earlier this week - signaling increased volatility ahead as new money entered the market.
Polymarket bettors are giving a 64% that BTC will hit $70,000 in October, odds that are up 45 percentage points in the last week. They are also giving a 75% chance BTC will hit a new all-time high in 2024, up 23 percentage points during the same time period.
Elsewhere in crypto, the Dog-themed majors stayed in the green after {{DOGE}} surged Wednesday as it was revealed Elon Musk donated $75 million to a Trump-aligned Political Action Committee and continues to promote the Department of Government Efficiency DOGEUSD on X. DOGE, the crypto, is up 5.8% during the Wednesday Asia trading day, while its Solana-themed rival BONK is up almost 9%.