Bitcoin Soars Past $11,900, Leaving Bears, S&P 500, and Gold in the Dust

Bitcoin made a big move yesterday.

The momentum followed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks on digital currency — “It’s more important to get it right than to be first and getting it right means.”

The Fed pointed to a range of issues, including cyberattacks, counterfeiting, fraud, the effect on monetary policy, and financial stability while preserving privacy and security, that needs to be assessed first.

During the panel discussion on digital payments hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Powell said the central bank had made no decision on issuing a CBDC. Still, it is an active participant in its research with “one set of experiments is being carried out at the board of governors here in Washington, D.C.”

Though it can’t be said with certainty if this event was what drove BTC higher, the movement was, in fact, distinct although small amidst the ongoing consolidation and bitcoin’s volatility nearing all-time lows.

The positive move pushed us above $11,800 and “brought us up against the final hurdle.”

“As far as the chart is concerned, bitcoin has been ranging between $10,000 and $12,000 per unit since late June and today's gains (last green candle on the right) bring us the right to the top of this range,” wrote analyst Mati Greenspan in his daily newsletter.

HODL

— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) October 19, 2020

With a nearly 3.5% upwards move on Monday, Bitcoin’s price went as high as $11,830, fast approaching $12,000. This resulted in $100 million liquidated, as per ByBt. The largest single liquidation order happened on Bitmex-BTC, valued at $3.24 million.

Today, BTC even went higher to above $11,900. However, altcoins are not following Bitcoin this time and are barely recording any gains.

Unlike the usual “BTC goes up, ETH goes up even more,” this time, Ether is still under $380.

For now, breaking the next obvious hurdle is the key to the digital asset. “The upside scenario for BTC is unusually clear. breaking $12,500 will generate plenty of momentum towards $14,000. If that $14k High gets taken out as well BTC will be full throttle on the way towards ATH and above,” noted analyst CryptoYoda.

$12k, then $14k, then $20k.

— Qiao Wang (@QwQiao) October 19, 2020

The most interesting thing about this move was that it was in the opposite direction of the equities market, which further went down.

Yesterday, the S&P 500 dropped almost 2% and is down 3% since the beginning of last week. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is up almost 5% since last week.

for the first time in a looong time equities fell while btc moved higher.

was very surprised to see this today, but there is nothing i would like more than to see btc break its correlation with equities pic.twitter.com/VNFkPYXspn

— 👨‍🌾Farmer Bluntz👨‍🌾 (@SmartContracter) October 19, 2020

Even gold is stuck around $1,900, while the US Dollar index struggles around the 93 level.

While the mainstream investors continue to weigh the latest progress on a new stimulus package from the government, the same is not the case for the leading digital currency.

As a matter of fact, during the last cycle, at this point, Bitcoin surged 30x in just over a year.

“We see Bitcoin emerging as a relative oasis of calm and outperformance,” wrote Mike McGlone, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, in a note.

“There should be little doubt technology, and digitization will continue advancing, yet Bitcoin’s supply will keep shrinking, supporting its price.”

Bitcoin (BTC) Live Price