Bitcoin passes $50,000 for the first time since 2021

Bitcoin (BTC) broke a two-year high above $50,000 on Monday – the highest recorded price for the leading digital currency since December 2021.

The coin’s surge was accompanied by $191 million in liquidations across the crypto market within the past 24 hours.

• According to Coinglass, over $36 million in crypto shorts have been liquidated in the past hour alone.
• Across the day, over 57,000 traders have been liquidated. The largest liquidation, however, was for an ETH-USD swap on OKX valued at $3.89 million.
• Bitcoin is now up 17% over the past seven days, while Ether (ETH) is up 13.5%.
• The recent rally for both assets marks a quick return to form after the “sell the news” market dump which followed the approval of several U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs last month.
• At the time, the asset rallied to $49,000 before sinking back under $40,000 in late January. However, slowing outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) coupled with steady and rising inflows to newer spot ETFs have helped drive day 1 ETF buyers back into the green.
• Bitcoin’s price tapped a high of $50,256 before returning to $49,936 at writing time. Its market cap is now $980 billion, waiting to tap $1 trillion at a per unit price of roughly $51,000.