Market News

The original cryptocurrency rose as much as 3.6%, briefly topping $78,400, its highest price since Feb. 3. It was trading around $78,109 in early morning in New York. Other cryptoassets also advanced, with Ether climbing as much as 4.2%.

“BTC’s near-term direction remains highly dependent on developments in the macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape,” said Paul Howard, senior director at market maker Wincent. “In the absence of a clear external catalyst, traders focused on positioning around low-volatility conditions are likely to view the $72,000 area as a key support zone, with upside constrained by a potential resistance and profit-taking ceiling around $79,000.”

Contracts for the S&P 500 Index were also up by more than 0.6%, while Brent crude was up around 0.8% to above $99 a barrel.

Bitcoin has weathered the war with Iran better than many assets, including the traditional safe haven of gold. Bullion is down roughly 10% since Feb. 27, while Bitcoin is up more than 15% over the same period.

“Crypto has been in a bullish mood in the past few weeks, often shrugging off bad news and climbing on good news,” said Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets. “The $75,000 level should hold as solid support from here, and a clean break above $80,000 would unlock significant further upside.”

Since the outbreak of the war at the end of February, Bitcoin has largely traded between $65,000 and $75,000. The holding pattern has been a reprieve from months of declines that has seen the token shed roughly 40% of its value from its $126,000 high in October, when a sharp selloff sent crypto markets spiraling.

In recent weeks, inflows have returned to US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The 13 funds have seen more than $250 million in net inflows so far this week, after investors poured $996.4 million into the funds last week.

(Updates prices.)