Bitcoin and Crypto See a Bullish Start to October and Q4; S&P 500 Posted its Worst Month Since March 2020

The crypto market is pumping yet again before the weekend, almost after a month, as the last time Friday pump came was on September 3rd. With this bullish start at the start of October and quarter four, Bitcoin went to hit $47,800, up 21% from the September low of 39,500 10 days back. Ether jumped to $3,250, reporting a 22.6% uptrend from $2,650 low hit on Sept. on 21st. Overall, the cryptocurrency market cap has recovered 10.5% in the past 24 hours to be back above $2.17 trillion. September actually ended up with negative performance as history had predicted. The Q3, however, still recorded returns of 25%, according to data provider Skew. https://twitter.com/cryptounfolded/status/1443836855544393760 In the coming quarter, the expectation for getting a Bitcoin Futures ETF approval is keeping the momentum high. The hopes for approval are getting higher after SEC Chair Gary Gensler reiterated his support for such an ETF which offers greater investor protection. “I look forward to staff’s review of such filings,” said Gensler this week about ETFs seeking to invest in CME-traded bitcoin futures. Meanwhile, SEC has delayed the decision on four physically-backed Bitcoin ETFs filed by Valkyrie, Krypton, Global X, and WisdomTree from late November to late December. Meanwhile, the latest strength in Bitcoin has been seen against the stock market. https://twitter.com/CryptoDonAlt/status/1443608620944576512 The S&P 500 ended September down 4.8% as its first monthly drop since January and the biggest since March 2020. On the tail of Wall Street’s worst monthly loss since the epidemic began, the world markets tumbled Friday. “Crypto assets have been showing remarkable strength in the last two days in view of a continued bloodbath in equity markets, where traders have been looking for reasons to sell. Likely driven by month end fund inflows,” noted trader and economist Alex Kruger. When it comes to YTD returns, Bitcoin is up about 60% and Ether 327% compared to 14.68% returns by the S&P 500. While the dollar also gained 2.17%, gold prices didn’t do well, down 7.50% so far in 2021. https://twitter.com/krugermacro/status/1443832382080102405 As we reported, the US dollar index made a new all-time high of 2021 on Thursday at just above 94.5. Since then, the greenback has fallen to 94.1. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note saw a small dip to 1.49% early Friday, from 1.50% but is still up from 1.32% low just over a week ago. These gains in USD came amidst expectations for a tapering of Federal Reserve stimulus starting November and a possible rate hike late next year. Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported an increase in unemployment applications for the third straight week, which were also higher than economists anticipated. Furthermore, the Commerce Department upgraded its estimate of economic growth during the Q2 to slightly better than expected 6.7% but only to slow down to 5.5% during the third quarter. Speaking at a European Central Bank forum on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, along with ECB President Christine Lagarde and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, said they were keeping a close eye on inflation.