Bitcoin surged $1,000 in value today as traders bet on the cryptocurrency hitting $30,000 soon, ahead of the monthly close of BTC price. The gains came after encouraging macroeconomic data from the US was released, with the February Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index exceeding expectations. The report showed annual inflation down by nearly 30% from last summer, which seemed to increase bets on Federal Reserve interest rate hikes pausing in May.
As a result, risk assets traded higher and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index were both up around 0.5% higher. Despite some reservations among traders, the mood around Bitcoin was buoyant, with some predicting that the cryptocurrency could hit $30,000 in the short term, having held a key support level at $27,700. Moving to higher timeframes, optimism was no less in evidence, with some analysts predicting bullish long-term probabilities, so long as Bitcoin stays above the lower-bound.