“Uptober” is off to a roaring start. Bitcoin shot up in price Friday afternoon, rapidly spiking from a price of about $120,000 to a recent peak of $123,855—but fell just short of breaking the all-time price record.
Bitcoin was recently trading for $122,346 after giving up some of the gains. It’s up 1.3% on the day, and more than 11% over the last week according to CoinGecko.
The previous record of $124,128 was set in mid-August, per CoinGecko. Friday’s spike marked the closest that Bitcoin has come to matching that mark since then.
Bitcoin dropped below $108,000 per coin in September as the biggest digital coin started “showing signs of exhaustion,” according to Glassnode analysts, as long-term holders took profits and ETF flows slowed down.
But October—dubbed Uptober by traders—has started with a bang. Nine out of the past 10 years have been strong for the cryptocurrency.
Traders betting against Bitcoin’s rise have been burned over the last 24 hours, with $153 million worth of Bitcoin shorts wiped out during that span according to CoinGlass. Overall, $499 million worth of crypto positions have been liquidated over the last day, with shorts making up $294 million worth of them.
Bitcoin’s rise also comes as gold and U.S. stocks jump on hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again this month. The central bank has been under pressure from President Donald Trump to lower the cost of borrowing this year.
Crypto markets and stocks have in the past done well in a low interest rate environment. Experts previously told Decrypt that the price of BTC would benefit if lower interest rates.
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“Bitcoin briefly tested record highs before retreating as traders took profits,” Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto asset manager BitBull Capital, told Decrypt. “The broader setup remains bullish, with a prolonged government shutdown likely to continue driving interest in hard assets and supporting demand for Bitcoin as an alternative store of value.”
Bitcoin this year has surged off the back of pro-crypto President Trump’s election win and subsequent inauguration. Since taking office, the Republican, who campaigned on a ticket to help the industry, has pushed digital asset-friendly policies, including plans for a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
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Still, compared to past cycles, BTC’s price hasn’t soared as much post its quadrennial halving: as the market cap of the biggest coin grows, it takes far more cash to move its price, and the volatility of the cryptocurrency is down since the 2024 approval of U.S. Bitcoin ETFs.