The bitcoin price suddenly broke through the $26,000 mark on March 14, reaching a nine-month high in the process. Bitcoin ( BTC ), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, extended its rally, surpassing the $26,000 mark for the first time since June 2022.
According to TradingView charts, BTC surged to an intraday high of $26,553, and at the time of writing, it is up 16.67% over the past 24 hours to $26,089.
BTC/USD daily chart courtesy of TradingView
The latest gains came on the heels of the latest consumer price index (CPI) release for February, which showed inflation fell to 0.4% from 0.5% in January, in line with economists’ estimates.
In line with expectations, inflation fell to 6.0% MoM from 6.4% YoY. Markets had expected the Fed to approve an additional 0.25 percentage point increase in the benchmark interest rate ahead of the announcement.
With the CPI report, that probability has increased, and traders are now pricing in a higher chance of the Fed raising rates by 25 basis points.
According to Coinglass, $158 million in short positions or pledges were liquidated in the past 24 hours, as Bitcoin’s rally surprised many who had expected the closure of two key crypto-friendly banks and the depeg of the USDC stablecoin last week. Afterwards prices will drop throughout the weekend.
other factors
Bitcoin fell to a low of $19,568 on March 10 following the sudden collapse of SVB. Its price is starting to bounce off lows and is on track to mark its fourth straight day of gains since March 11.
Contributing to this was the FDIC’s recent announcement that SVB depositors will have full access to their funds after confirming a successful transfer of their deposits to a new bridge bank.
Additionally, Binance exchanged $1 billion worth of Binance USD (BUSD) to support the market, which could add to the buying pressure.