CoinDesk 20 Index: 2,238.35 +1.98%
Bitcoin (BTC): $75,007.25 +0.43%
Ether (ETH): $2,809.39 +6.34%
S&P 500: 5,929.04 +2.53%
Gold: $2,665.75 -0.07%
Nikkei 225: 39,381.41 -0.25%

Bitcoin traded around $75,000 during the European morning, about 2% lower than the all-time high of nearly $76,500 set Wednesday. Following Donald Trump's election victory, attention will turn to the next round of interest-rate cuts by the Fed, with analysts forecasting a 25 basis-point reduction later Thursday. While lower borrowing costs are generally seen as a bullish signal for risk assets such as crypto, this one might prove to be a non-event. The CME's FedWatch tool shows traders are assigning a nearly 100% chance of the Fed trimming the benchmark rate to 4.5%-4.7%, so the reduction is already priced in.

BTC's rally to an all-time high on Wednesday coincided with massive inflows into ETFs, which added a net $621.9 million, snapping a three-day streak of outflows. What was noteworthy was the strong inflows came despite market leader BlackRock's IBIT seeing net outflows of $69 million. Trading volume in the ETF was at a record level, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. "IBIT just had its biggest volume day ever with $4.1b traded," Balchunas wrote. "It was also up 10%, its second-best day since launching, some of this will convert into inflows". IBIT's outflows were offset by over $300 million of inflows for Fidelity's FBTC and over $100 million apiece for ARK 21Shares' ARKB, Bitwise's BITB and Grayscale's BTC.

Ether is over 7% higher in the last 24 hours, outperforming the broader digital asset market, which has risen by 2.7%, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index. ETH crossed $2,800 for the first time since early August, breaking out of the $2,300-$2,600 range that has persisted even while other coins were rallying. President-elect Trump's victory may be stirring hopes of a "DeFi Renaissance" and with it a breakout in the price of ether. “DeFi Renaissance thesis is progressing as expected with Trump deregulation and crypto friendly policy and rule-making from Republican admin and Senate,” wrote Arthur Cheong, co-founder at DeFiance Capital, in an X post.

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market value, jumped nearly 10% to a record high above $76,000 Wednesday. Gold, meanwhile, fell 3% to $2,658. As such, the BTC/gold (BTC/XAU) ratio surged 12%, registering BTC’s biggest single-day outperformance relative to gold since Feb. 28, 2022, according to charting platform TradingView.

More importantly, Wednesday’s surge confirmed the end of an eight-month-long downtrend, identified by a trendline connecting highs in March and June.

The breakout suggests a renewed outperformance of bitcoin relative to gold, fueled in part by investors reallocating their funds from the yellow metal to BTC.

“Analyzing the BTC to gold ratio, we can see that the downtrend [indicative of gold’s outperformance since March] is starting to reverse. Globally, investors will increasingly focus on hedging against currency debasement and capitalizing on the Trump market play, both of which favor BTC,” Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, said.

- Omkar Godbole