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Why is Bitcoin Skyrocketing? The Cryptocurrency Hits 2023 Record High
Bitcoin recently saw a big price increase. The cryptocurrency reached $35,150, making it the highest price in 2023. Experts say this jump is partly because people think a new Bitcoin ETF will soon launch in the U.S. Right now, the price of Bitcoin is $34,702, up 13.38% in just one day, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Since the start of this year, Bitcoin's value has nearly doubled. However, it's still much lower than its all-time high. That was $69,000 back in 2021. People are hopeful that a U.S.-based Bitcoin ETF could bring a lot of money into the market. NYDIG, a finance company, thinks it could be as much as $150 billion.
Lucas Josa, a market analyst, adds more information. He works for Mynt, which is part of BTG Pactual, a financial services company. Josa says the price went above $32,000 when news came out about a possible ETF from BlackRock. BlackRock is a big deal because it's the world's largest manager of assets like stocks and bonds.
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🛢 We Are 'Still' Going Full Speed Into The Wall
Product storage is about to get tighter unless China steps in and lifts the product export ban. If it does, expect a meaningful reversal in crude.
WTI is barely hanging on to $70 for its dear life, but please remember that consumers use petroleum products like gasoline and diesel; they don’t use crude oil. Refineries do, and this is why it was always important for us to pay attention to crack spreads along with crude timespreads.
Note: Please divide it by 3.
The fever in the market today is that crude is oversupplied, but products are undersupplied. How can this be possible?
Well, China’s June crude import data so far is -4.7 million b/d y-o-y, and teapot refineries are operating at 50% utilization. Compared to US refineries operating at 95% and PADD 2 refineries operating over 100%, you can see where the disconnect is.
But here’s the thing. If end-user demand isn’t down and you still have a production shut-in of ~8 million...
🇮🇷🚫🚢 Here's my analysis of the Strait of Hormuz situation for the last 24 hours.
As I noted yesterday, I was seeing a lot of vessels using the Oman route to exit. This was following the announcement by Oman and IMO. The IRGC retaliated today on a vessel, but even after the attack, I am still seeing transits. It's a lot less, but there are vessels willing to take the risk.
On the inbound front, the flow is still heavily restricted. Whatever outflow we are seeing today is unsustainable as there are not enough non-Iranian tankers going in. In particular, we need empty VLCCs going in to load up crude. This is just a trickle so far.
In my view, the traffic in the Oman lane will lead to more escalation by IRGC. Without throttling flows entirely in the Southern lane, IRGC will lose control of its leverage over the Strait. If they act, then it's a question of what the US does after.
I think this is only the beginning.
🔗 @HFI_Research
