Bitcoin (BTC) price is up today, rising over 3% with a sharp upward candle that sent the price to $27,300. The Bitcoin price increase today set a one-week high and reflects a 4% gain for the month of September. 

Let’s look into the reasons why Bitcoin price is up today. 

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Liquidations could be sending Bitcoin price higher

Coinciding with Bitcoin’s rally, the BTC supply on exchanges continues to remain below the Sept. 4 monthly peak. Exchanges have shed over 40,000 Bitcoin since that monthly peak.

The market perceives coins leaving crypto exchanges as a bullish signal, given traders withdraw their BTC typically when they want to hold it in self-custody long-term.

With Bitcoin continuing to leave exchanges, liquidations tend to have a strong impact on price. In the past 24-hours alone, over $21.5 million BTC shorts have been liquidated with over $17.4 million in shorts being liquidated in a 12-hour timeframe.

Despite the short-seller losing streak, 51.5% of the futures market remains short on Bitcoin. With the ratio remaining skewed short, a potential opportunity for a short-squeeze could happen and lead to further price upside.

Institutional interest in Bitcoin bolsters investor sentiment

After U.S. Court of Appeals Circuit Judge Neomi Rao sided with Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) in its case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Aug. 29, many large institutions filed for ETFs. Despite this ruling, Gary Gensler remained defiant, refusing to say Bitcoin is a commodity while giving testimony to Congress on Sept. 27 in which he again admitted that BTC is not a security.

The recent growing institutional interest in Bitcoin from companies like BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. While both institutions had BTC spot ETF approvals delayed on Sept. 2, the $1.5 trillion asset manager Franklin Templeton filed with the SEC for a spot Bitcoin ETF on Sept. 12.

To date, the SEC has refused to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, despite numerous applicants including BlackRock, Fidelity, Cathie Wood’s ARK and 21Shares which has filed for approval three times.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager with over $8.5 trillion in assets under management. The firm will also utilize Coinbase to custody the BTC in the trust according to the filing with the SEC.

The SEC had an Oct. 16 deadline for deciding on the next round of ETFs but preemptively pushed back the deadline on Sept. 25 ahead of Gensler’s testimony.

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Long-term Bitcoin holders metric hits an all-time high

While the SEC continues the campaign against Bitcoin ETFs and crypto, BTC believers are continuing to hold strong. Macro headwinds continue to batter assets but some investors believe that Bitcoin’s price stability can be partially attributed to the resolve of long-term holders.

On Sept. 28, long-term Bitcoin holders reached an all-time high of 76.1% of the total outstanding BTC supply.

While Bitcoin price is showing some bullish momentum today, the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index shows the market is still fearful despite being up 7 points compared to the previous month.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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