Bitcoin Pops Over $61K, XRP Leads Gains Among Majors

• Bitcoin was trading above $61K during the Asian trading day, and Polymarket bettors are forecasting some price stability for the rest of the week.

• Traders are looking to Jerome Powell’s remarks at the end of the week for indications of where prices may go.

Bitcoin (BTC) moved past $61,000 early Tuesday as U.S.-spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holding the asset recorded their second-highest inflow activity this month.

Bitcoin ETFs recorded over $61 million in net inflows, the highest since $192 million on August 8, data from SoSoValue shows. BlackRock’s IBIT led inflows at $92 million, while Bitwise’s BITB recorded outflows at $25 million.

Japan’s Metaplanet also announced that it had completed another BTC purchase worth $3.4 million (500 million Japanese yen), bringing its total holdings of bitcoin to 360.368 BTC.

Major tokens followed suite, with XRP and BNB Chain’s BNB jumping over 7%, and Solana’s SOL and Cardano’s ADA gaining 4%. Toncoin (TON) declined 0.8% in the past 24 hours. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a measure of the performance of the largest and most liquid digital assets, is up 4.25%.

Polymarket bettors are predicting some price stability, with the market giving a 66% chance that BTC will remain above $60K by the end of the week.

Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped 5% amid technology entrepreneur Elon Musk posting an AI-generated image referring to the token on X. DOGE historically tends to move when Musk posts about the token. However, any price spikes are usually short lived.

PoliFi tokens were also flat, as traders seemed to have lost interest in them. The Trump-themed MAGA token is down 0.3%, according to CoinGecko data, with trading value of $2.5 million. Meanwhile, on Polymarket, Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump 50%-49% as the Presidential election betting contract nears $650 million.

While market catalysts remain far and few as of Tuesday, some traders are expecting market movements nearer to Friday when Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at the Jackson Hole symposium.

“This week’s market expectations are built around the Jackson Hole symposium where Monetary Policy is to be discussed,” Abra Prime said in a market note via email. “The narrative focuses on BTC ETFs and their correlation with the stock market.

“We can expect horizontal price action this week before Jackson Hole, with BTC ranging between $56K – $62K with most volume around $58K – $60K,” Abra said.

Powell is expected to confirm a pivot to lower borrowing costs next month, per Bloomberg, a step that has historically buoyed bullish sentiment among traders as cheap access to money spurts growth in riskier sectors. Short-term bearish sentiment remains among some, however, on the decision to pull back on proposed options for BTC ETFs.

“We have seen both NYSE and NASDAQ withdraw their applications to list BTC ETF options over the past 72 hours, adding more headwinds to wider mainstream adoption at least in the short term,” Augustine Fan, head of insights at SOFA.org, said in a Telegram message. “TradFi continues to be cautious with ETF ETH buying on the lack of clarity over staking legalities,” Fan added, referring to ether’s (ETH) underperformance compared to bitcoin in the past week.

Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.

Follow @shauryamalwa on Twitter