Bitcoin finally breaches $80K: What will BTC’s next ATH be?

• Around 4.27% of Bitcoin’s supply was backing spot exchange-traded funds at press time.
• Analyst forecasts a market peak between November 2024 and February 2025.

Bitcoin [BTC] continues to show the crypto market why it’s the king coin. After nearly a month of consolidation and sideways movement, the market leader hit a new record high after smashing past $80K.

The cryptocurrency hiked by over 5% over 24 hours and over 18% in the last seven days, AMBCrypto noticed using CoinMarketCap data.

Bullish environment for growth

Bitcoin’s movement comes on the back of general market bullishness, especially after the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-trader funds (ETFs) back in January.

Almost $26 billion worth of BTCs have moved into these funds since listing, according to AMBCrypto’s analysis of SoSo Value data.

Also, inflows have surged dramatically following an initial burst of outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

Additionally, as of this writing, assets under management or AUMs for Bitcoin spot ETFs was almost $79 billion, accounting for 5.21% of Bitcoin’s total supply.

Source: SosoValue

There are other reasons outside of crypto that might explain Bitcoin’s performance. 

Inflation has cooled significantly in the last few months. The job market has grown better too.

This led the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) to adopt a relatively dovish approach, leaving interest rates steady during last month’s FOMC meeting.

The broad consensus among investors and policymakers was that rates would remain unchanged in the next meeting too, with the possibility of a rate cut later in the year if inflation stays in check.

What this has done is allowed people to start spending money on risk-on assets like equities and cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin to get scarcer and dearer?

The increasing number of Bitcoins getting locked into spot ETFs created a scarcity in the broader market.

Inasmuch, supply on exchanges continued to witness a decline, as per AMBCrypto’s examination of Santiment data.

Furthermore, as of this writing, about 9% of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply was held on exchanges, down from almost 12% at the start of 2024.

Source: Santiment

Also, while supply was shrinking, there was no let-up on the demand side. Contrary to prior bull cycles, 2024’s Bitcoin rally was driven by both retail and institutional interest.

Using Glassnode, AMBCrypto spotted a marked increase in whale entities holding 1K coins, while addresses with non-zero balances rose as well since 2024 began.

Source: Glassnode

Rocket set for the moon?

This bullish scenario of depleting supply and soaring demand had the potential to push Bitcoin to historic highs this cycle.

Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price Prediction 2024-25

Noted technical analyst Ali Martinez had earlier predicted that the market peak would be hit sometime between November 2024 and February 2025.

So, $80K looks like just the start as we launch from the ground level. The rocket has enough fuel for the moon, it seems!