The bitcoin (BTC) price closed last week above the USD 65,000 mark, the highest level ever for the cryptocurrency. The new milestone boosted sentiment among bitcoin holders, with many being optimistic that bullish predictions for the remainder of 2021 will come true.
At 10:48 UTC on Monday, bitcoin traded at USD 66,026, up 2.1% for the day and 4.5% for the past 7 days. The price is also up since the record-high weekly close of around USD 65,500 on Sunday, although it still remains down from last week’s all-time high of around USD 69,000.
The high closing price for the week made some people comment that they now see the bullish predictions from PlanB, the creator of the popular bitcoin stock-to-flow model (S2F), as within reach for this year.
$98K Nov and $135K Dec prediction still in play pic.twitter.com/Df9CsxTdEj
— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) November 14, 2021
“So in the midst of bears calling for another crypto dip, and that we’re going to 10k, we’ve just had the highest weekly close of all time on Bitcoin […] I’m really hoping to have a green 2 weeks to close November with the PlanB predictions at 98k, and I’m bullish on that,” one user wrote on Reddit’s r/CryptoCurrency forum, while sharing a chart that showed how bitcoin has just closed the week at its highest level ever.
In addition to being an all-time high weekly close, however, the popular technical analyst TechDec pointed out that the current level is also an important so-called Fibonacci level.
“Bitcoin just opened and closed a week above the log 1.618 [Fibonacci level],” the analyst wrote, before showing a chart that appeared to show what has followed when the same has happened in the past.
New US bitcoin futures-backed ETF incoming, and only a futures-backed one
Meanwhile, in other bitcoin news, financial services VanEck is about to launch a new bitcoin futures-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US.
According to a notice from the Chicago-based Cboe exchange, the ETF will be listed on Cboe on Tuesday this week under the ticker XBTF.
According to Bloomberg’s Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas, XBTF will be similar to the existing bitcoin futures ETF’s BITO and BTF, although it will come with a slightly cheaper management fee of 0.65%, compared with 0.95% for BITO and BTF.
The new ETF listing comes after the firm’s application for a spot-based bitcoin ETF was rejected by the US Securities and Investment Commission (SEC) last Friday. The rejection was given on similar grounds as those of all other spot bitcoin ETFs in the past, with the SEC signalling that it will still only allow bitcoin ETFs that are backed by regulated futures contracts to be launched.
However, futures-backed ETFs have received their fair share of criticism from the bitcoin community, with many arguing that they are a less-than-optimal way to invest in bitcoin. This is, among other things, due to cost concerns, limited trading hours, and the fact that holders of a bitcoin ETF do not actually own any bitcoins that can be used for practical purposes.
Commenting on the first bitcoin ETF to be launched, ProShares’ BITO, the popular bitcoin on-chain analyst Willy Woo said today that using a bitcoin ETF instead of actual bitcoins is like going back in time:
“It’s like going 2 steps backwards so legacy investors can have access the old Industrial Age way; along with Industrial Age rent seekers in between you and the asset,” the analyst summarized the ETF discussions by saying.
#Bitcoin vs Proshares Bitcoin ETF trading hours visualised.
It's like going 2 steps backwards so legacy investors can have access the old Industrial Age way; along with Industrial Age rent seekers in between you and the asset. pic.twitter.com/0LY3DRErvX
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) November 15, 2021
Source: Cryptonews
