These Two Catalysts Are Pushing Crypto Markets To New Highs

Bitcoin And Tesla, The EV-Crypto Crossover

Bitcoin (BTC) made headlines this morning when it surged to set a new all-time. The new high which was just shy of $45,000 comes exactly one month after the last record-setting high was reached. Oddly, Bitcoin made headlines again with the aid of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) when the EV leader announced a major purchase. Tesla, under the guidance of its visionary and eccentric CEO Elon Musk, revealed it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of the world’s leading cryptocurrency as it readies itself to accept Bitcoin payments.

According to the filing, the company will begin accepting Bitcoin in the near future. Tesla says it may or may not liquidate the Bitcoin upon acceptance which opens the door to trading gains and losses in the coming quarters. The move was foreshadowed by a Tweet made by musk just a week earlier. He talked the coin up as “on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people. In our opinion, if it wasn't already the move by Tesla will help spur it along.

Tesla surged more than 2.0% following the announcement but that move is more to do with China’s rising EV sales than the BTC purchase. China reported this morning that auto sales rose by 25.7% in the country with sales led by EV. Bitcoin, on the other hand, surged more than 13% because of and in the wake of the Tesla purchase. The move created a very large white candle that broke the coin out to a new all-time high and set it up for another $7,150 in gains or 16.25% upside. And we think that estimate is conservative.

Ethereum Futures Begin Trading At The CME

Not only is the breadth of cryptocurrency adoption widening but so is the depth. That can be seen in many places ranging from the growing market share seen in some of the alt-coins and also in the mainstream acceptance of a widneing number of coins. Hence the move seen today in Ethereum (ETH). Ethereum futures began trading on the CME this morning to little fanfare. The new contract, worth 50 Ether, is a cash-settled trade just like the CME’s Bitcoin futures.

For those of you that remember, the 2018 peak in Bitcoin (and all of cryptocurrency) prices was very nearly coincident with the launch of CME Bitcoin futures. While historical performance has great bearing on future price action those expecting Ethereum to see the same bearishness should take caution. Not only were the market conditions in 2018 vastly different than they are now there is not the specter of regulation and specifically Chinese regulation hanging over the market.

Yes, the launch of Bitcoin futures was coincident with the top in cryptocurrency prices but it was not the cause of it. The Chinese government began a series of regulatory crackdowns in late 2017 and early 2018 that triggered the sell off. The bulk of the Bitcoin mining capacity was in China at the time and all those miners with their millions in Bitcoin flooded to the exits. Things are different now.

Ethereum: The Technical Outlook

Ethereum prices spiked more than 6.0% on Monday but this move is more to do with Bitcoin and Elon Musk (not to mention the growing value locked into Ethereum defi contracts) than it does with the CME futures. CME traders going short are already felling pain with the price of Ethereum not only moving up but very near the all-time high and begin led higher by Bitcoin. Now that price action is back above the $1,700 level a retest of the $1,763 all-time high will likely come very soon. Once that level is broken a move up to the $1900 to $2,000 range is expected.