Bitcoin rallied to a new all-time high on Monday as investors awaited an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this week.
The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by nearly 3% at $106,126.74, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier it rose as high as $107,229.38, a new record. Ether rose 3% to break through the key $4,000 level. The broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, traded more than 1% higher.
Crypto stocks gave back earlier gains. Coinbase rose more than 1%. Shares of bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy fell below the flat line after jumping as much as 7%, following the Friday evening announcement that MicroStrategy will join the Nasdaq-100 stock index and heavily traded QQQ ETF later this month.
MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor also announced that the company bought an additional 15,350 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 439,000 worth about $46 billion.
Investors are expecting the Fed to lower interest rates this week during its two-day policy meeting, which will conclude Wednesday. The CME FedWatch Tool currently forecasts a 96% chance of a 25-basis-point cut. That would likely be positive for the price of bitcoin, which often trades like a tech stock and therefore benefits from lower interest rates.
Lower interest rates also imply a weakening dollar and growing money supply, both of which have demonstrated long-term correlations with bitcoin.
Bitcoin is now up 9% for the month, 52% since the U.S. presidential election and 149% for the year. The promise of a friendlier regulatory environment and potential establishment of a national strategic bitcoin reserve in the incoming Trump administration continues to be a positive catalyst for the digital asset and cryptocurrencies at large.