Bitcoin rose above $45,000 at one stage on Tuesday morning in Asia amid investors’ anticipation of a potential approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States.

The largest crypto by market capitalization climbed 5.8% over the past 24 hours to trade at $44,965 at 9:25 a.m. Hong Kong time after it surged to as high as $45,083 at one stage in the morning, according to The Block data. That was the first time bitcoin rose past the $45,000 level since April 2022.

The price movement comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may reportedly notify the 14 asset managers if the SEC would approve their spot bitcoin ETF applications as early as Tuesday or Wednesday ahead of the Jan. 10 deadline.

“There's nothing much happening on the macro side that would lead one to believe it's anything but a crypto-related dynamic,” Justin d'Anethan, head of APAC business development of crypto market maker Keyrock, told The Block. 

“In this case, we've had news of Blackrock, Fidelity and other spot bitcoin ETF applicants confirming names of the brokers that would support their BTC operations (so far: Jane Street, JP Morgan, Cantor Fitzgerald),” d'Anethan said, adding that such news “solidifies the current narrative that ETFs are coming and they're coming soon.” 

“Most investors expect some kind of official decision by the first half of this month, so imminently,” he continued.

Sign for a bullish outlook?

Markus Thielen, head of research of Matrixport, told the Block that bitcoin may surge above $50,000 by the end of this week. 

“Although we are not seeing minting activities at Tether increasing, which would signal fiat into crypto inflows, the fact that prices are rallying might be a sign that there are no sellers in the market and prices are squeezing higher,” Thielen wrote in a statement shared with The Block earlier on Tuesday morning. 

The crypto analyst pointed out that the bitcoin funding rate is reaching new highs, which indicates that long investments are more dominant at the moment. “This is how the futures market is squeezing the spot market and will likely lift bitcoin above our $50,000 target level for January 2024, which appears reasonably achievable,” Thielen commented.

Joe Caselin, head of institutional marketing of Seychelles-based crypto exchange BIT, told The Block that bitcoin may continue to soar despite the “buy the rumor, sell the news” setup surrounding the anticipated ETF approvals.

“Even if the launch of ETFs triggers a sell-off in the short term, the incoming buy pressure combined with reduced supply after the halving sets the stage for a very bullish 2024 where we break through the ATH,” Caselin said.