Bitcoin’s price is getting closer to Mars thanks to Elon Musk while ether moons to a new record. Investors are pulling BTC out of DeFi, likely to diversify their profits.

• Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $44,023 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Climbing 14.5% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $38,051-$44,801 (CoinDesk 20)
• BTC well above the 10-hour and the 50-hour moving average on the hourly chart, a bullish signal for market technicians.

Bitcoin trading on Bitstamp since Feb 5. Source: TradingView

Bitcoin’s price hit a record-high price Monday, soaring to $44,801 at around 13:00 UTC (8 a.m. ET). It’s one month to the day since hitting the previous record of $41,375, according to CoinDesk 20 data.

Bitcoin’s historical price the past month. Source: CoinDesk 20

One catalyst for the price run-up: Entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) plowed $1.5 billion into the cryptocurrency. The company also said it would accept bitcoin for goods and services rendered. 

“All bets are off the table now. I was worried that [at] around $35,000-$40,000 we were not seeing a huge amount of institutional flows, and over the weekend the market moved higher in a fairly weak fashion,” noted Chris Thomas, head of digital assets for. Swissquote Bank. “But Tesla would have bought over the last few weeks, a little every day.”

Since the start of 2021, bitcoin spot exchange volumes by eight major exchanges tracked by the CoinDesk 20 have been higher than its six-month average. 

This year so far, average trading on these exchanges has been $4.4 billion per day; going back to Aug. 8, 2020, the daily average has been $1.7 billion. As of press time Monday, volume is also higher than that 2021 average, at over $6.7 billion.

Major spot bitcoin volumes by exchange the past six months. (Shuai Hao) Source: CoinDesk Research

“Bitcoin is at new highs today in ‘frenzied’ buying, clearing minor resistance from January,” said Katie Stockton, a technical analyst at Fairlead Strategies. Stockton also noted bitcoin has lost steam since its Musk-motivated rally, at $44,023 as of press time. “Signs of exhaustion are associated with today’s steep rally from an overbought/oversold perspective,” she said.

However, the trend remains bullish, Stockton added. “Despite the potential for additional short-term volatility, the long-term uptrend appears healthy behind bitcoin from a momentum perspective.“ 

While some may be skittish about bitcoin’s rise in 30-day volatility over the past three months, other types of traders are certainly enthusiastic about it.

30-day bitcoin volatility over the past three months. (Shuai Hao) Source: CoinDesk Research

“Tesla buying bitcoin was a mostly predictable move, given the vocal support it has seen from CEO Elon Musk,” said Guy Hirsch, U.S. managing director at eToro.

“If more companies begin making similar announcements, $50,000 could potentially be within reach during the next few months,” Hirsch added. 

“We think we’re only just scratching the surface when it comes to corporate and institutional participation in the world of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies,” Joel Kruger, cryptocurrency strategist at LMAX Digital, told CoinDesk. “We suspect that moves from visionaries like Tesla will only serve to reinforce the tremendous value proposition that decentralized assets have to offer.”

Ether at new high as BTC investors pull out of Ethereum protocol

Meanwhile, ether (ETH) is also hitting records and the asset’s correlation with bitcoin has cropped back up to levels not seen since December. 

Bitcoin and ether 90-day correlation the past six months. (Shuai Hao/CoinDesk Research) Source: CoinDesk indexes

The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was up Monday trading around $1,720 and climbing 8.5% in 24 hours as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). The price hit a fresh all-time high Monday, hitting $1,776, according to CoinDesk 20 data. 

The amount of bitcoin held in Ethereum-based decentralized finance, or DeFi, has dropped almost 3.5% Monday, going from over 50,000 to 48,344 BTC as of press time, according to data aggregator DeFi Pulse.

Bitcoin locked in decentralized finance the past three months. Source: DeFi Pulse

Swissquote’s Thomas notes that Monday may be a day for larger players to start moving some bitcoin around because a fresh bitcoin price high might induce some investors to diversify their profits. 

“Larger hedge funds, etc., [that] had got into bitcoin between $15,000-$20,000 would naturally want to take profits around $45,000-$50,000″ for a profit of 2.5-3x. “I’ve always viewed that as a hard challenge,” Thomas told CoinDesk.

Other markets

Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are all in the green Monday. Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):

• Oil was up 1.9%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $58.03.
• Gold was in the green 0.95% and at $1,830 as of press time.
• Silver is gaining, up 1.9% and changing hands at $27.32.

• The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield climbed Monday to 1.169 and in the green 0.15%.

The CoinDesk 20: The Assets That Matter Most to the Market

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