Bitcoin price rally to $50K puts spotlight on halving supply shortage and spot ETF inflow

Bitcoin price rallies to $50,000, certifying BTC bulls’ intent to chase the price higher leading into the April halving event.

Bitcoin price rose to an intra-day high of $50,000 on Feb. 12 for the first time since December 2021, following a streak of positive exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows last week. 

Bitcoin (BTC) rapidly rallied 3.25% from an intraday low of $47,745 on Feb. 12 to hit a two-year high at $50,000. The rally to a new two-year high was prefaced by a 16% gain over the past seven days.

Bitcoin’s strong performance comes as the inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs have increased over the past week. Last week, spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted over $1.1 billion in inflows as outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust continued to slow down.

According to a Feb. 12 CoinShares report, the “newly issued spot-based Bitcoin ETFs in the US […] saw a net US$1.1bn inflows last week, bringing inflows since the January 11th launch to US$2.8bn.”

Digital assets start the week with US$1.1bn inflows!
AuM is at its highest level since early 2022, at US$59bn.

– ETFs dynamics –

The momentum of inflows into new issuers is not slowing down. Newly issued US spot-based Bitcoin ETF now total US$2.8bn inflows since their… pic.twitter.com/kGqVU6jX62

— CoinShares (@CoinSharesCo) February 12, 2024

Recent spot BTC ETF inflows and the uptick in Bitcoin’s price bring the total assets under management to $59 billion, the highest since early 2022.

Bitcoin last traded above $49,000 more than two years ago, on Dec. 28, 2021, when it reached a high of $50,720 before dropping toward a low of $15,522 on Nov. 9, 2022, following the FTX debacle.

Related: Best weekly close since 2021 — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

Independent trader and analyst Rekt Capital appeared not to be surprised by BTC’s rise above $49,000, adding, “The signs were there.” 

#BTC

The signs were there$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin https://t.co/zKVaa9hUgC pic.twitter.com/oEbNHc27F8

— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) February 12, 2024

The sudden rise of the Bitcoin price in the past few hours was followed by a spike in crypto market liquidations to the sum of over $152 million, with the tally still increasing at the time of publication, according to data from Coinglass.

Bitcoin short position liquidations amounted to more than $45.56 million.