Bitcoin Soars Above $76,000 Ahead of Fed Decision

The crypto market continued its upward trajectory on Thursday, fueled by Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Bitcoin (BTC) climbed 3% to $76,300, while Ethereum (ETH) surged 8% to $2,860. Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT) gained 5% and 3%, respectively. The global crypto market cap rose 2% to $2.68 trillion.

Bitcoin’s Open Interest (OI) — the total value of unsettled Bitcoin derivatives contracts — has climbed to a record $45.78 billion, according to data from CoinGlass.

“The crypto market has been on fire, with BTC hitting an all-time high of $75k. Notably, BTC has now navigated three election cycles since 2009, each followed by rallies to new highs..,” wrote QCP Capital, a crypto trading firm.

Crypto liquidations reached $334 million in the past 24 hours, impacting 105,262 traders. Notably, 62% of these liquidations were short positions.

Bitcoin ETF Inflows Surge

Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded significant inflows on Wednesday, marking a notable reversal after three consecutive days of outflows.

According to Farside Investors, net inflows surged to $622 million. Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) led the pack with $300 million, followed by Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), which recorded $109 million, and Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF (BITB), which added $101 million.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which had gone parabolic last week, reported net outflows of $113.3 million. However, the fund set a daily trading volume record, hitting $4.1 billion.

"IBIT just had its biggest volume day ever with $4.1 billion traded," noted Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg ETF analyst. "That's more volume than stocks like Berkshire, Netflix, or Visa saw today. It was also up 10%, its second-best day since launching. Some of this will likely convert into inflows."

Meanwhile, Ethereum spot ETFs logged inflows of $52 million on Wednesday. This highlights a growing divergence in institutional investor behavior, with significantly more capital flowing into Bitcoin products than Ethereum.

Crypto Stocks Rally

U.S. election results also drove gains in crypto-related stocks.

Coinbase (COIN) jumped 31% to $254, while Robinhood Markets (HOOD) and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) followed with gains of 19%, according to data from Yahoo Finance.

MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, surged 14% to nearly $257, approaching its all-time high of $260.

Traditional financial markets also posted all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 3.4%, marking its best single-day performance since November 2022. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also hit new peaks, rising 2.3% and 2.6%, respectively.

Investors are gearing up for the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today, where the central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates by 0.25%.