Crypto Fans Bask in ‘Light of the Bull Mood’ as Bitcoin Bounces

(Bloomberg) -- Crypto fans often start their day on social media by greeting fellow enthusiasts with a “gm” -- short for good morning. Friday was an especially good morning. 

Bitcoin notched its largest daily increase since July in just a matter of minutes. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency gained as much as 10% to $47,884 in New York and mostly held its gains, with analysts and investors grasping for reasons for the positive move, especially in light of China’s recent ban on all crypto transactions and mining.

Ryan Nauman, market strategist at Zephyr, cited a handful of possible catalysts for the move, including high inflation, the debt ceiling standoff, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on Thursday that the central bank won’t ban cryptocurrencies. Other explanations ranged from technical price movements to short-covering to the start of a new month and quarter.

As to why the move occurred so suddenly and sharply at the particular moment it did, many market-watcher had few answers. But Bitcoin bulls were more than happy to cheer it along, as evidenced by social media sites including Twitter, where a lot of crypto discourse takes place. Here’s how crypto enthusiasts and analysts reacted:

Antoni Trenchev, managing partner and co-founder of Nexo, a crypto lender, said:

“At this point there doesn’t seem to be an obvious trigger for the sudden $3,000 move upwards. Bitcoin has a history of doing its own thing and the reasons reveal themselves thereafter. We have though switched from a negative news environment (China, U.S. regulation) to a more supportive one, fueled by Powell and Gensler’s comments. From a technical standpoint, holding $40,000 was very important and lay the foundation for a move upwards.”

On Twitter, crypto fans re-introduced their calls for Bitcoin to shoot to the moon:

Todd Morakis, co-founder of digital-finance product and service provider JST Capital, said this of the move:

“Three things: 1) September is over, and data-wise it’s the worst-performing month 2) Positive comments out of the Fed re Bitcoin 3) Funding has been negative in swaps for a while, which shows people are short derivatives so there’s a chance of a short squeeze.”

The rally also reignited predictions that the cryptocurrency will soon surpass its previous all-time high of near $65,000. 

Jesse Proudman, CEO at crypto robo-adviser Makara, said:

“The market has clearly responded positively to comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Powell saying the U.S. has no intention of banning cryptocurrencies akin to what’s going on in China. The market has been uneasy over the past few weeks amid mixed signals from the Fed and SEC, this additional clarity appears to have unleashed the bulls and that rally we’ve been expecting into the end of the year is coming to fruition.”

Meanwhile, on Twitter, fans shot out new memes predicting once again that Bitcoin will hit $100,000:

Others employed images and videos of rocket ships to express their feelings:

Another user posted a video of a real-life bull charging straight up into a crowd -- a nod to Bitcoin’s famous rallies:

And a newly coined term started to make its rounds: “Uptober,” a smashup of “up” and “October.” Crypto backers were glad to see September go -- Bitcoin lost close to 8% during the month. 

Mati Greenspan, founder and CEO of Quantum Economics, said:

“Rektember is over. Welcome to Uptober!!,” he wrote in a note. “The best explanation I can come up with as to why this is happening now is the ongoing Mercury Retrograde,” adding: “Timing of the pump aside, the idea that cryptocurrencies will dominate all payment rails in the future is one that is quickly gathering steam at the highest levels.”

Many on Twitter are now preparing for Bitcoin to trend ... “up”: 

Errol Coleman, a 22-year-old who creates investing-focused content on TikTok, said he was surprised when he woke up to the price surge on Friday, considering there wasn’t any crypto-focused news immediately before the rally. He spent the rest of the morning researching further catalysts for Bitcoin, which he says owns “some” of. 

“This large move really shows the resilience of Bitcoin, especially after the China news,” Coleman said by phone from Tampa, Florida. “After something like that, I think it really shows how powerful Bitcoin can be and the potential it does have.”

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