Bitcoin Rally Holds Around $63,700 Following 4th Block Reward Halving

Bitcoin (BTC) maintained its position around $63,700 following the cryptocurrency’s fourth halving, an event that alters the economics for the miners powering the Bitcoin ecosystem.

BTC saw minimal movement after the mining of the 840,000th Bitcoin block commenced as Saturday began in UTC time. Bitcoin experienced a dip to as low as $59,685 on Friday before rebounding above $65,000.

The halving has historically preceded a surge in the price of bitcoin, with the last one in May 2020 leading to a climb from $9,500 to $65,000 over the subsequent year. However, this time, bitcoin has already undergone a significant rally to all-time highs, ascending from $15,500 in late 2022 to $73,680. This rally was buoyed by optimism surrounding the approval and subsequent trading of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S.

On Thursday, JPMorgan expressed the expectation of a bitcoin drop post-halving due to “overbought conditions,” as evidenced by the high level of open interest in bitcoin futures. Goldman Sachs also noted that for bitcoin to replicate the success of previous cycles following halving events, macroeconomic conditions must be conducive to risk-taking.

Bitcoin has been trading within the range of $59,600 to $73,860 since February 28, with the upper end of the range defended this week amidst escalating conflict in Israel, which has impacted global capital markets.

A sell-off on April 12, from $71,000 to $60,000, resulted in the elimination of $4 billion in open interest from the bitcoin market, according to Coinalyze. Excluding CME, the figure across all exchanges amounted to $16.1 billion.