Crypto prices extended recent gains on Thursday as bitcoin and ether closed out their best winning months since 2020 and 2022, respectively.
Bitcoin rose 3% to $62,216.43Â on the final day of February, according to Coin Metrics. On Wednesday, it surged to $64,000 at one point, before a wave of long liquidations triggered a pullback to about $60,000.
As bitcoin took a breath after its big run on Thursday — it's on pace for a 21% weekly gain — other cryptocurrencies caught up. Ether surged 3.5% to $3,400.80. Tokens tied to Ethereum rivals Solana and Cardano jumped 16% and 9%, respectively.
The two blue-chip coins shot higher in February after finishing January little changed. Bitcoin ended up nearly 45% for the month, marking its sixth-straight monthly gain — its best showing since December 2020. Ether advanced more than 47%, also a sixth straight monthly advance and its best month since July 2022.
February was a triumph for bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which saw a record $677 million in daily net inflows on Wednesday alone, the third straight day of inflows above $500 million. Initially, outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF (GBTC), which had a head start on rivals from its days as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, had weighed on the bitcoin price. Those outflows have since diminished.
Investors attribute February's explosive gains to bitcoin's supply and demand dynamics. Sylvia Jablonski, CEO and chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs, pointed to the new ETFs and the upcoming bitcoin halving as catalysts.
"We've seen over $2 billion coming into the various bitcoin ETFs so there's been this need to access more supply of bitcoin to build these ETFs and that ends up driving prices up, particularly in the near term," she said.
"The second reason why you might be getting some extra momentum in the price over the last couple of days is the upcoming halving," she added. "Historically, the halving has led to bitcoin prices increasing … past performance is not indicative of future performance, but I do think there's this belief that the halving process will result in the same level of price appreciation."
The halving is a mandate in the bitcoin code to cut the reward of mining bitcoin in half to reduce the supply of bitcoin every few years and create a scarcity effect. The next one is expected this April.
February is a historically strong month for both bitcoin and ether. Bitcoin has now finished 10 of the last 12 Februarys in the green and has had an average return of 15.7% for the month, according to CoinGlass. Ether has ended the month higher in seven of the last eight Februarys since its inception, giving it an average February gain of 17.2%.
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