Bitcoin started the week on a strong note, rising above $70,000, with prices indicating a bullish outlook amid increasing correlation with the upcoming US elections, according to VanEck's Head of Digital Asset Research Matthew Sigel. Institutional investors have also shown positive sentiment toward crypto ETFs, which recorded net inflows totaling $901 million last week.
Bitcoin surged to a three-month peak on Monday, rising briefly above the $70,000 mark and coming approximately 5% off its all-time high of $73,700. BTC has risen 2.7% in the past 24 hours, trading around the $69,900 mark as of the time of writing.
Matthew Sigel noted in a CNBC interview that Bitcoin's current "bullish setup" ahead of the US election next week is reminiscent of late 2020, which preceded a remarkable 120% price increase over two months.
He emphasized that this pattern suggests a strong potential for Bitcoin to rally following the election results, similar to the behavior observed in 2020. Sigel predicts that Bitcoin will become a reserve asset by 2050 valued at $3 million.
Sigel also stated that Republican candidate Donald Trump appears to be the more crypto-friendly candidate among the two leading contestants. He referred to Trump's continuous advocacy for crypto and support for Bitcoin, while Democrat Kamala Harris has yet to directly mention anything related to crypto.
Polymarket data reveals that Trump leads the election odds by 65% to Harris' 34%, suggesting that bettors are increasingly expecting a Republican win in the upcoming election on November 5.
The election appears to be a major driving force for BTC as investors hope a potential Donald Trump win will serve as a breakthrough for the crypto industry.
This likely contributed to the massive inflows to digital asset ETFs last week, totaling $901 million. Last week's inflows pushed total ETF inflows to over $3 billion in October.
The inflows were largely spearheaded by Bitcoin ETFs, which recorded inflows of $920 million, of which $906 million came from US investors.
However, Ethereum ETFs saw another week of outflows totaling $35 million despite renewed investor positivity.