Bitcoin near $80K, eyes $85K as S&P 500 hits record

Bitcoin held near $80,000 on Thursday as U.S. stocks closed at fresh highs and markets absorbed the highest U.S. inflation reading in four years. The dollar-priced token recovered much of a prior-day sell-off and briefly reached $80,000 around the opening of Wall Street trade.

Price data showed bitcoin recouping ground after the inflation report. U.S. equities largely ignored the data: the S&P 500 posted its highest daily close on record and the Dow Jones Industrial Average returned to 50,000 points for the first time since early February. West Texas Intermediate crude oil approached $100 per barrel amid Middle East tensions but did not break to new highs.

A market newsletter described investor risk appetite as “skyrocketing” and reported leveraged ETF assets under management at $177 billion, about $45 billion higher since the March market low. The same analysis said the U.S. M2 money supply rose roughly $1 trillion year over year, or 4.6%, to a record $22.7 trillion.

Technical traders pointed to nearby support and upside targets for bitcoin. Daan Crypto Trades described the market as at a key level and noted the cryptocurrency was holding near $79,400, a previous high from April. Charts viewed by traders showed 200-period simple and exponential moving averages moving up to meet the spot price.

Trader CrypNuevo cautioned that the next move depends on holding the current range highs and projected a push to the 50-week exponential moving average at about $84,000–$85,000 if the level holds. Failure to hold that area, the trader added, could lead to a rotation back to the mid-range and expose lower range points.

The price action follows a multi-month rally that returned bitcoin to its April highs. Market participants said they will watch whether current support holds through trading sessions that can see increased volatility around major economic reports and geopolitical headlines.