In brief
- Crypto markets are up on the news Biden took the presidency.
- Ethereum and Bitcoin lead the charge, as the global market cap heads north of $400 billion.
- Wall Street is also bullish after Biden signalled tackling COVID was his first priority.
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Biden winning the US election has sent the crypto markets into a frenzy over the weekend. The total global market cap of all cryptocurrencies has grown 2.61% in the last 24 hours, taking the total value to a quarterly high of $445 billion.
Bitcoin is up 3.18%, Ethereum 3.14% and every other project in the top 20 has experienced similar gains.
Once news networks had begun calling Biden’s win in Pennsylvania, the price of Bitcoin actually dropped. It had been hovering around the $15,300 mark in the lead up to the result, but quickly slid to $15,100. Since then it’s surpassed $15,300 and is now sitting comfortably at $15,400.
But some weren’t happy with the result. As Bitcoin went on a charge, nearly $63 million in short positions were liquidated, per data from tracking site Datamish as those predicting election uncertainty would be bad for Bitcoin got it wrong.
Over on prediction markets, some investors are trying to argue that Trump still has a chance of retaining the White House. Trading exchange FTX is allowing those who bet on Trump to win the 2020 election to hold onto their bets until February, following a flurry of complaints.
The exchange bent the rules because of the divisive nature of the election—despite Joe Biden being declared a winner. “Some users have complained about us following the rules, and instead want us to modify the rules to favor their preferred candidate,” FTX yesterday wrote on Twitter.
Looking over at Bitcoin Futures, sentiment is firmly in the buy category, as traders reckon that Bitcoin’s price is going to keep edging up towards the all time high of $20,000. That’s despite news on Friday that the US Department of Justice had seized more than $1 billion worth of Bitcoin linked to the now defunct Silk Road marketplace.
Historically big news like that would have sent ripples through the market place. But at the moment, HODLers simply don’t care.
Wall Street eyes an end to the US-China Trade War
Over on Wall Street, futures markets all responded positively to the news Biden had won the election over the weekend.
The Dow jumped by 0.5%, and the S&P 500 rose steeply, giving it a weekly advance of 7% this week, it’s best since April.
The reason? Biden told audiences across the weekend he’d be doubling down on COVID efforts to help combat the record number of daily cases, which in turn gave healthcare companies a strong signal that their futures suddenly look a lot brighter under a Biden Presidency.
Tech stocks are also enjoying the warm glow of a potential Biden Presidency. Under Trump’s administration, the trade war between the US and China was bad for businesses that relied on China’s manufacturing facilities to make their products (read: Apple).
Investors are expecting Biden to climb down from the brinkmanship of his predecessor, leaving companies with a freer hand to manufacture goods inside the Asian giant’s factories.
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