The leader of the crypto market continues to strengthen its position, based on the forecasts of renowned analyst Mikael van de Poppe. In the short term, bitcoin may test the level of $50,000, especially before the approval of applications for the creation of spot bitcoin funds. The expert advises to consider opening long positions after localised corrections. Bitcoin has added about 3% over the last 24 hours, reaching $42,670, and its value has increased by more than 17% over the last month. Experts express the opinion that the emergence of specialised funds can provide significant support to the cryptocurrency, attracting significant liquidity to the market in the amount of $70 billion.

Bloomberg assumes that the SEC will approve applications for spot funds in early January 2024, which is supported by experts from Bernstein Research, expecting approval by 10 January next year.

Notably, with bitcoin strengthening, interest in altcoins is growing, with Ethereum recently hitting a global high, but this does not necessarily signal the start of the altcoin season. That said, the altcoin sector is showing signs of a strong recovery. In the last month, investors have invested around $973 million in DeFi startups, up 40% from October. This may be due to the Fed's decision not to raise the key rate at its last meeting.