Omar Marques | LightRocket | Getty Images
Bitcoin rallied to a new all-time high on Monday as investors awaited an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this week.
The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by nearly 4% at $107,093.59, according to Coin Metrics, breaking above $107,000 for the first time. Ether rose 1.5% to just under the key $4,000 level. The broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, traded 2.9% higher.
Among crypto stocks, Coinbase was 3.8% higher. Shares of bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy jumped 4.8% following the Friday evening announcement that MicroStrategy will join the Nasdaq-100 stock index and heavily traded QQQ ETF later this month. MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor also announced that the company bought an additional 15,350 BTC.
Bitcoin rises to a new level above $106,000
Investors are expecting the Fed to lower interest rates this week during its two-day policy meeting, which will conclude Wednesday. The CME FedWatch Tool currently forecasts a 96% chance of a 25-basis-point cut. That would likely be positive for the price of bitcoin, which often trades like a tech stock and therefore benefits from lower interest rates.
Lower interest rates also imply a weakening dollar and growing money supply, both of which have demonstrated long-term correlations with bitcoin.
Bitcoin is now up nearly 8% for the month, 50% since the U.S. presidential election and 145% for the year. The promise of a friendlier regulatory environment and potential establishment of a national strategic bitcoin reserve in the incoming Trump administration continues to be a positive catalyst for the digital asset and cryptocurrencies at large.
