For the first time since September 2022, the monthly trading volume on cryptocurrency exchanges reached the $1 trillion mark.

According to data from The Block, in December, this figure reached $1.1 trillion. The last time a higher level was recorded was in May 2022 when it reached $1.35 trillion.

In December, Binance accounted for 39.3% of the total trading volume, amounting to $432.7 billion. Upbit holds 8.3% of the market with a volume of $91.8 billion, and OKX accounts for 8% with a trading volume of $87.5 billion.

The increased activity of traders in December may be related to the overall market interest in the potential approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States.

However, analyst from K33 Research, Vetle Lunde, believes that the expected approval of the new product from January 8th to 10th may trigger a "sell the news" scenario. In his opinion, many short-term investors see the signal of the green light from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a moment to take profits.

Nevertheless, Lunde also considers a 20% probability scenario in which significant funds flow into spot Bitcoin ETFs, which would alleviate selling pressure from speculators.

The prediction platform Polymarket points to an 89% probability of approval of digital gold-based exchange-traded funds by January 15th. Last month, this figure was only 50%.

Earlier, analysts from K33 Research suggested that the approval of spot Bitcoin ETF could happen by January 10, 2024.

It is worth noting that on January 2nd, the price of Bitcoin exceeded $45,000.

The last time digital gold reached such high levels was in early April 2022, before events related to the Terra crash and its subsequent impact on the crypto industry.