Why is Bitcoin price up today?

Today's Bitcoin gains are part of a broader rally across the crypto market, driven by President-elect Donald Trump's supportive stance on digital assets and the potential for a pro-crypto Congress.

Trump's victory in Arizona secured a clean sweep of the seven US battleground states, leading to a decisive win in the presidential election. On the campaign trail, he had pledged to position the US as a global leader in the digital-asset industry, including plans to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve and appoint pro-crypto regulators.

Bitcoin’s gains today coincide with a sharp rise in the open interest in its futures market.

As of Nov. 11, Bitcoin’s total number of outstanding derivative contracts were at a record high of $48.64 billion, up from $18.08 billion at the year’s beginning. Meanwhile, BTC’s weekly funding rates jumped to 0.831% after flipping into negative territory just two months ago.

A rising OI means that more money is being committed to Bitcoin derivatives, showing heightened interest and speculation around its price movements.

Meanwhile, positive funding rates mean that long positions (bulls) are paying short positions (bears), typically reflecting confidence in upward price momentum.

Bitcoin’s upward trajectory may continue into the new year, according to Fadi Aboualfa, Head of Research at Copper.co.

“We have back-tested the ETF accumulation trend against potential price ranges,” he noted in a report published last week, adding:

Copper.co’s forecast is based on historical ETF accumulation trends and current market data. In October, the firm predicted that ETFs could hold just under one million Bitcoin by the US elections.

As of Nov. 11, these funds had over 1 million BTC in holdings, indicating growing institutional interest.

From a technical standpoint, Bitcoin may head toward $300,000 by 2026 after showing signs of breaking out of a giant inverse-head-and-shoulders (IH&S) pattern.

An IH&S setup pattern develops when the price forms three troughs in a row beneath a common neckline resistance. The middle trough, called the head, is deeper than the other two, called shoulders.

The pattern resolves when the price breaks above the neckline and rises by as much as the maximum distance between the head’s deepest point and the neckline level. In Bitcoin’s case, a decisive breakout means a bull run toward $300,000.