Bitcoin price rally to $49.9K puts spotlight on halving and spot ETF supply shortage narrative

Bitcoin price rose to an intra-day high of $49,940 on Feb. 12 for the first time since December 2021, following a streak of positive post-exchange-traded funds last week. 

Bitcoin ( BTC ) price rapidly rallied 3.4% from an intra-day low of $47,745 on Feb. 12 to hit a two-year high near $50,000. The rally to a new 2-year high was prefaced by a 16% gain over the last 7 days.

Bitcoin’s strong performance comes as the inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs increased over the past week. Last week, spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted over $1.1 billion in netflows as outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) continued to slow down.

According to a Feb. 12 CoinShares report , the “newly issued spot-based Bitcoin ETFs in the US, saw a net US$1.1bn inflows last week, bringing inflows since the January 11th launch to US$2.8bn.”

Digital assets start the week with US$1.1bn inflows!
AuM is at its highest level since early 2022, at US$59bn.

– ETFs dynamics –

The momentum of inflows into new issuers is not slowing down. Newly issued US spot-based Bitcoin ETF now total US$2.8bn inflows since their… pic.twitter.com/kGqVU6jX62

— CoinShares (@CoinSharesCo) February 12, 2024

Recent spot BTC ETF inflows and the uptick in Bitcoin’s price bring the total assets under management (AuM) to $59 billion, the highest since early 2022.

Bitcoin last traded above $49,000 more than 2 years ago, on Dec. 28, 2021, when it reached a high of $50,720, before dropping toward a low of $15,522 on Nov. 9, 2022, following the FTX debacle.

Related: Best weekly close since 2021 — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

Independent trader and analyst Rekt Capital appeared not to be surprised by BTC’s rise above $49,000, adding, “the signs were there.”

#BTC

The signs were there $BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin https://t.co/zKVaa9hUgC pic.twitter.com/oEbNHc27F8

— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) February 12, 2024

The sudden rise of the Bitcoin price in the past few hours was followed by a spike in crypto market liquidations to the sum of over $152 million, with the tally still increasing at the time of publishing, according to data from Coinglass.

Bitcoin short position liquidations amounted to more than $45.56 million.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.