Bitcoin Weekly Performance

Bitcoin is on pace for its best weekly performance in over a month, inching closer to reclaiming the $70,000 level.

For the week, the price of bitcoin is up about 9%, trading around $68,800. Ethereum follows closely with an 8.3% gain, while Solana is up by 7.2%, according to The Block's price page. These gains surpass traditional market indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, which are up less than 1% during the same period.

Despite this, the three major averages closed with their sixth straight positive week, marking the longest string of weekly advances in 2024 for both the Dow and S&P 500, according to CNBC.

Bitcoin's substantial movement on Friday benefited crypto-related stocks and exchange-traded funds. Bitcoin miners Hive Digital (HIVE) and Hut 8 (HUT) each gained nearly 15%. Larger peers like CleanSpark (CLSK), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and Bitfarms (BITF) saw gains between 7-10%. Other crypto-stocks, including Coinbase (COIN), rose nearly 8%, while MicroStrategy (MSTR), a corporate bitcoin holder, increased more than 11%.

In the past 24 hours, total liquidations across centralized exchanges amounted to $113 million, based on data from Coinglass. Bitcoin led with $30 million in liquidated positions in the last day. Earlier this week, bitcoin's rebound to $68,000 triggered nearly $300 million in liquidations in a single day.

On Wall Street

Big banks like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley unofficially began the third-quarter earnings season in the past two weeks, beating profit estimates broadly. Meanwhile, BlackRock's CEO, Larry Fink, spoke positively about bitcoin in the asset manager's third-quarter conference call on Oct 11, stating, "I believe the utilization of assets is becoming more of a reality worldwide." Fink indicated that conversations about digital assets and asset allocation are prevalent among institutions.

BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF (IBIT) has reported net inflows of over $1.07 billion this week through Thursday's close, marking its largest weekly inflow since mid-March.

Earnings reports from several crypto-related companies, including Coinbase, MicroStrategy, and Riot Platforms, are expected on Oct. 30.