Breaking a familiar pattern, bitcoin is rising during the US session, rising to $70,800 after falling to just above $68,000 earlier in the day.
Bitcoin is now higher by 0.5% over the last 24 hours, with Ether XRP and solana forward by almost 1.5% within the same time frame.
Risk assets are generally in the green on Monday, with the Nasdaq up 1% and the S&P 500 up 0.5%. Gold is ahead 1.9% at $5,075 per ounce, and silver is up 7.4% at $82.50 per ounces.
“What we are experiencing is the weakest bitcoin bear case in its history,” wrote Bernstein’s Gautam Chhugani, reiterating the firm’s $150,000 year-end price target for bitcoin.
“When all the stars align, [the] The Bitcoin community is manufacturing a self-imposed crisis of confidence,” Chhugani continued. “Nothing will blow up, no skeletons will unravel; [the] media is back again to write an obituary.”
“Time,” Chhugani said, “remains a flat circle on Bitcoin.”
Getting a bit more technical, Schwab’s Jim Ferraioli said it’s useful to look to bitcoin miners to determine when the bottom is in.
“Prior sales have usually pegged near bitcoin’s production cost,” Ferraioli said. “Miners with less efficient equipment will often shut down operations temporarily … We can see this in real time by watching the adjustment of the mining difficulty – as more miners leave the network, the difficulty drops. Once it starts to rise again, it is confirmation that the bottom may be in.”
In fact, CoinDesk previously reported that bitcoin mining difficulty just dropped by the largest amount since 2021 as at least some miners capitulated to falling prices.
Crypto stocks move higher
Crypto platform Bullish (BLSH) is leading the sector higher on Monday with a 14.2% gain. Other big advancers include Galaxy Digital ( GLXY ), up 8.2%, and Circle Financial ( CRCL ), up 5.1%. Strategy (MSTR) is up 3% and Coinbase (COIN) 1%.
Bitcoin miners turning to AI infrastructure are posting big gains, just as Morgan Stanley initiated positive coverage on TeraWulf (WULF) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) — both up 14%. Hut 8 (HUT), IREN (IREN) and Bitfarms (BITF) are each ahead around 7%.
