Following a market rebound on Friday, Bitcoin (BTC)  has since shown little price movement gaining by only 0.42% in the last day. The premier cryptocurrency currently hovers around $63,000 as investors continue to await the traditional bullish surge of  “Uptober”.  Commenting on BTC’s potential next movement, CryptoQuant analyst ShayanBTC has highlighted key price levels investors should look out for.

Bitcoin Must Overcome Major Resistance To Prevent Crash To $55,000 

In a Quictake post on Saturday, ShayanBTC shared key insights on the relationship between Bitcoin’s Realized Price Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) Age Bands and potential market trends. Generally, the Realized Price UTXO Age Bands is an on-chain metric that provides insights into Bitcoin holders’ behavior. Specifically, it reveals the average price at which certain categories of BTC investors acquired their tokens.

According to ShayanBTC, the realized price for short-term holders of Bitcoin i.e. holders of BTC for three to six months, currently lies at $64,000 while long-term holders of Bitcoin i.e. for 6-12 months presently have a realized price of $55,000. The analyst explains that realized price levels usually serve as strong support as key support or resistance levels in the BTC market. This is usually because they represent the average cost basis for Bitcoin holders and often form psychological price points.

Based on BTC’s current price of around $63,000, the short-term holders’ realized price of $64,000 presents a pivotal resistance level, a triumphant breakout above which signals would indicate the continuation of the asset’s present upward trajectory. However, if BTC fails to break past $64,000 perhaps due to increased selling activity or macroeconomic factors, Shayan expects the asset to fall to around $55,000 i.e. the realized price level for long-term holders. 

Interestingly, Shayan’s observations are well reflected on Bitcoin’s daily chart where the premier cryptocurrency has consistently oscillated between $55,000 – $65,000 over the last two months. Should BTC break out of this range-bound pattern, it will need to surpass the resistance at $70,000, which could signal the start of a market bull run.

BTC Network Fees Up By 32%

In other news,  Bitcoin recorded $5 million in network fees, representing a 32.4% rise over the last week. According to on-chain analytics company, IntoTheBlock, this development indicates a heightened network activity despite calming market volatility.

At the time of writing, the crypto market leader trades at $62,786 reflecting gains of 2.13% and 9.08% in the last seven and thirty days respectively. Meanwhile, BTC’s daily trading volume is currently valued at $17.57 billion, following a 42.92% decline.

Featured image from The Economic Times, chart from Tradingview 

Last January 10th, 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission finally approved the Bitcoin ETF applications of 11 funds, including Fidelity, Grayscale, and Blackrock’s IBIT. Within a month, trading volume increased as more banks, funds, and individual traders got a share. One market participant that’s slowly boosting its holdings is Morgan Stanley.

In its recent 13F-HR/A filing with the SEC, Morgan Stanley declared $272 million worth of Bitcoin ETFs at the end of the third quarter. Although this seems like a sizeable investment, it only accounts for 2% of the total assets in management, now valued at $1.3 trillion.

Massive news! 🚨 Morgan Stanley, a $1.3 trillion asset manager, just disclosed $272 million in Bitcoin ETF holdings. This is a clear sign that institutional adoption is accelerating. As more major players like Morgan Stanley continue buying into Bitcoin, it’s creating… https://t.co/bkCt59bSrD

— Jimie (@Your_NLP_Coach) October 18, 2024

Morgan Stanley’s BTC Holdings Spread Over Blackrock, Ark21, Grayscale Funds

Morgan Stanley keeps its holdings in different baskets like a seasoned trader and investor. Many of its holdings are with Blackrock’s iShare Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). Management reported that it now owns 5.5 million shares of the BTC ETF, which it bought in the second quarter. Morgan Stanley’s holdings with Blackrock were worth $187.7 million at the time of the transaction but are now worth $209 million, or an increase of 10.2%.

The company also shared that it holds a sizable holding with Ark 21 Shares but has reduced its holdings with Grayscale. Initially, Morgan Stanley boasted holdings worth $270 million, but they’re now down to $148,000.

BTCUSD trading at $68,393 on the daily chart: TradingView.com

Morgan Stanley And Its Crypto-Friendly Strategy

Morgan Stanley is one of the top asset managers with a Bitcoin and crypto-friendly strategy. Although the company was late in investing in Bitcoin ETFs, it still managed to build one of the most significant holdings in the United States.

In August 2024, the company gave the go-signal to its managers to offer Bitcoin ETFs as an option for its wealthy customers. Considering its huge asset base, this was a significant move for the company. For example, if its manager allocates just 1% of the company’s assets to Bitcoin ETFs, it will create an inflow of $130 billion.

Bitcoin ETFs Continue Push

The SEC’s approval of spot ETFs was a game-changer for the industry. According to analyst Kripto Mevsimi, Bitcoin is now a more mature asset and is starting to become an integral part of the financial market.

The market continues to support Bitcoin ETFs, with impressive net flows in the last four days. Funds bought over $470 million worth of BTC yesterday, an improvement from Wednesday’s inflow. Again, IBIT leads the game with an inflow of $309 million. Also, ARKB notched an impressive day with a $100.2 million inflow. GBTC was also positive, getting $45.7 million yesterday.

Featured image from MoneyControl, chart from TradingView

On October 18, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a rule change that allows the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) to offer options trading for multiple spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

This decision comes during a period of strong weekly inflows for Bitcoin ETFs, marking their best performance in around seven months.

SEC Greenlights Options Trading

The SEC’s filings revealed that both exchanges were authorized to list options for spot ETF products. However, while the NYSE has full approval for all products, CBOE’s listing excludes Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust.

“The Commission finds that the proposed rule change is consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Act,76 which requires that an exchange have rules designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market, and to protect investors and the public interest,” the SEC stated in the two filings.

Read more: An Introduction to Crypto Options Trading

The exact launch date for these options has not been confirmed. However, ETF experts expect the approval to broaden access to crypto-related financial products on major US exchanges. This move will likely increase liquidity around Bitcoin ETFs, draw more participants to the market, and ultimately strengthen the industry.

Jeff Park, head of alpha strategies at Bitwise, highlighted the advantages of ETF options over existing BTC options on platforms like Deribit. He pointed out that ETF options offer cross-margining, which enables integration with multiple assets such as GLD.

Park emphasized that derivatives don’t directly affect Bitcoin supply but allow USD holders to hedge against Bitcoin exposure, which can reduce volatility. He also highlighted that ETF options can enable market conditions to significantly influence large assets like BTC.

“ETF options are the tightropes accelerating flows that convert Bitcoin’s potential energy into kinetic energy, all leading in one direction: higher,” Park concluded.

The SEC’s approval coincides with the ETFs experiencing a remarkable week of inflows. Data from SoSoValue revealed that Bitcoin ETFs collectively pulled in over $2 billion, extending their winning streak to six consecutive days. As a result, the ETFs have now reached $21 billion in total net inflows, driven by strong investor demand.

Read more: How To Trade a Bitcoin ETF: A Step-by-Step Approach

Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store, believes this sustained momentum reflects the robust retail and institutional interest in Bitcoin ETFs. At this pace, he predicts that BTC ETFs could surpass Gold ETFs in market size within the next two years.