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CFDs are complex instruments. 72% of retail client accounts lose money when trading CFDs, with this investment provider. You can lose your money rapidly due to leverage. Please ensure you understand how this product works and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing money.
CFDs are complex instruments. 72% of retail client accounts lose money when trading CFDs, with this investment provider. You can lose your money rapidly due to leverage. Please ensure you understand how this product works and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing money.

Bitcoin resumes rally on Elon Musk support, hedge-fund buys

Bitcoin rose on Wednesday morning in Asia, helped by optimism from large investors, with a potential ban in India failing to dampen sentiment.

Source: Bloomberg
  • Bitcoin (BTC) price crosses US$36,000 mark
  • Institutional investors are still buying the coin’s price dips
  • Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk said he is a supporter of BTC
  • However, India might prohibit some cryptocurrencies
  • Trade BTC, long or short, with an IG account today

Bitcoin gains 6.8%

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) ticked up 6.8% day-on-day to trade at US$36,169 as of 08:41 SGT on Wednesday (03 February 2021).

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency has retreated about US$5,000 since hitting an all-time peak of almost US$42,000 on 08 January 2021, although it is still up 26% from end-2020.

JPMorgan Chase & Co strategist John Normand said in a note last Friday that BTC could be due for a ‘drawdown’, considering that its rally has been ‘steeper than any other financial innovation or asset bubble of the past 50 years’.

Why does Elon Musk like BTC?

Last Friday (29 January), Tesla founder and tech billionaire Elon Musk changed his Twitter profile to read: ‘#bitcoin’, triggering a short-lived 20% climb in the cryptocurrency’s price. It pared its gains through the day as US equity markets declined.

Musk went on to say on Monday that Bitcoin was ‘on the verge’ of receiving broad acceptance by ‘conventional’ investors.

The Tesla founder expressed support for the cryptocurrency, adding that he was ‘a little slow on the uptake’ and should have bought it eight years ago. BTC spiked to almost US$34,500 on Monday after Musk’s comments.

Institutional interest in BTC still growing

Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone said that BTC’s key support lies at US$30,000, and ‘there appears to be a rising wave of institutional interest buying all dips’.

US-based One River Asset Management’s CEO Eric Peters noted that his hedge fund’s holdings of digital assets has surpassed US$1 billion. Peters also pointed out the growing institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies.

MicroStrategy Inc this week purchased another 295 Bitcoins for US$10 million in cash, at an average price of about US$33,810 apiece. As of Tuesday, it held about 71,079 Bitcoins that were acquired at an aggregate price of almost US$1.15 billion.

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio’s positive comments on BTC also helped to prop up sentiment, traders said. The hedge fund manager last Thursday wrote in a note to clients that the cryptocurrency was ‘one hell of an invention’, and he viewed it as a ‘gold-like alternative asset’.

Dalio added that his firm was considering cryptocurrencies for two new funds. However, even though Bitcoin could potentially make investors ‘very rich’ and ‘disrupt the existing monetary system’, cryptocurrencies are still vulnerable to being hacked and subject to regulatory restrictions, Dalio said.

Potential bitcoin ban in India

Separately, India is planning to implement a new law to ban private cryptocurrencies such as BTC, according to a legislative agenda published on Friday.

The country may also create a framework for an official digital currency to be issued by its central bank.

The legislation is meant to ‘prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying cryptocurrency and its uses’, the agenda noted.

How to trade Bitcoin with IG

Are you feeling bullish or bearish on BTC?

Either way you can buy (long) or sell (short) the asset using derivatives like CFDs offered on IG's industry-leading trading platform in a few easy steps:

  1. Create a live or demo IG Trading Account, or log in to your existing account
  2. Enter <Bitcoin (USD)> in the search bar and select the instrument
  3. Choose your position size
  4. Click on ‘buy’ or ‘sell’ in the deal ticket
  5. Confirm the trade

This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Markets Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients.

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