Bitcoin Price Outlook Remains Tentative Amid Bitcoin ETF Concerns

Bitcoin price jumped to its highest level since early August on Monday, hitting an intraday high of $30,000 on the back of an erroneous news report. The premier cryptocurrency has pulled back since then but remains slightly above the bullish support level of $28,145. Bitcoin’s total market cap has declined slightly over the past 24 hours to $551 billion, while the total volume of the asset traded over the same period crashed by more than 43%.

Bitcoin ETF Concerns

Bitcoin price jumped to its highest level in two months on Monday, rallying nearly 10% in the wake of fake news. The digital asset briefly made out with the coveted level of $30,000 before pulling back further to $28,500. BTC’s price jump was a bane to many investors who witnessed nearly $86 million worth of shorts liquidations.

The digital asset made a splash on Monday after a news outlet reported that investment firm giant BlackRock’s bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) had received approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The now-retracted story published by Cointelegraph on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), was denied by BlackRock to other news outlets.

Crypto market participants have been closely watching the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF for years. The crypto community believes that the approval of a Bitcoin EFT would be a key steppingstone for mainstream adoption and could enable more market activity from institutional investors.

The SEC has delayed its decision regarding the spot ETF applications of Fidelity, VanEck, and WisdomTree slated for October 17. Comments by Bloomberg ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas suggest that the approval is likely to be delayed until January 2024. According to a researcher at Coinbase, the impact of a potential greenlight for a Bitcoin EFT has already been partially priced in for the primary cryptocurrency. As such, the Bitcoin price might not rally as hard as traders anticipate when the spot-based EFT gets the approval.

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis

Bitcoin price has been hovering below the important level of $28,500 over the past few days. The asset has managed to flip the resistance level of $28,145 into a bullish support floor. The BTC price was slightly lower at $28,315.75 at press time. Even so, the digital currency remains above the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages. Its Relative Strength Index (RSI) suggests that the asset is not too far from being overbought and could be at risk of correction.

Consequently, the Bitcoin price has a chance to climb higher and break above the resistance at $29,000 amid the broader market bullish sentiment. A break above this level would push the price higher to the coveted $30,000 level. Conversely, should Bitcoin lose its support at the 50-day EMA at $27,250, the bullish thesis would be invalidated.

BTC Price Chart