The bitcoin price has broken through the $45,000 mark, as anticipation grows that regulatory approval for U.S.-based spot bitcoin ETFs could be granted this week.

The largest digital asset by market cap is changing hands for $45,035 at 8:00 a.m. ET, according to The Block's Price Page.

Bitcoin BTC +3.48% has broken through the $45,000 mark. Image: The Block's Price Page.

The spike in prices led to a substantial liquidation of leveraged positions on centralized exchanges. The volatility resulted in the liquidations of more than $8 million of bitcoin positions in the past hour, with the majority ($6 million) being shorts.

The overall crypto market saw over $10 million of liquidated short positions in the past, contributing to a total of around $15 million in liquidations across various centralized exchanges, according to CoinGlass data.

In derivatives markets, liquidations take place when a trader's position is forcibly closed due to insufficient funds to cover losses. This situation arises when market movements are unfavorable to the trader's position, resulting in the depletion of their initial margin or collateral.

Spot bitcoin ETF anticipation grows

The global cryptocurrency market cap hit $1.67 trillion on Monday, an increase of 0.89% in the past 24 hours. Expectations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve several spot bitcoin ETFs at the same time is a likely catalyst for the current upward movement in the entire cryptocurrency market.

According to a recent Fox Business report, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager and one of the firms vying to bring a spot bitcoin ETF to market, expects its application to be approved this Wednesday.

BlackRock is one of several firms which submitted updated 19b-4 filings last Friday for proposed spot bitcoin ETFs, alongside Grayscale Investments, Valkyrie, ARK 21Shares and Invesco. Prospective issuers have also filed amended S-1 forms today setting out their prospective fee schedules.

Crypto proponents are eagerly awaiting the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs, believing these funds could inject billions of dollars in fresh funding into the sector. The recent surge in the price of bitcoin reflects the market's enthusiasm for the potential introduction of exchange-traded products that could allow institutional traders to directly hold bitcoin, rather than relying on speculation through futures contracts.