Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin Surges Past $67,400 Amid US Election Countdown, Altcoin Volatility Persists

With the US election just 20 days away, set for November 5, the crypto market appears to be emerging as a key beneficiary. Bitcoin, mentioned by both Presidential candidates in their speeches, is experiencing a rapid price surge as the election approaches. On Thursday, October 17, Bitcoin recorded a 10.59 percent increase over the past seven days on foreign exchanges, according to CoinMarketCap. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $67,413 (roughly Rs. 56.6 lakh) on international exchanges. On Indian exchanges like CoinSwitch and Giottus, meanwhile, the asset is trading at $68,958 (roughly Rs. 57.9 lakh).

“Bitcoin is winking at $67,500 (roughly Rs. 56.7 lakh) after a long stretch of a 220-day downtrend indicating the rebuilding of investor confidence. The upcoming US election will be one of the major reasons for the next bull run. The Fear and Greed Index remains steady at 71 in the ‘Greed’ zone,” Avinash Shekhar, co-founder and CEO, Pi42 told Gadgets360, commenting on the market status.

Ether showed a price hike of around one percent in the last 24 hours. The second-most expensive cryptocurrency after BTC, ETH is presently trading at $2,628 (roughly Rs. 2.20 lakh) on foreign exchanges. As per the crypto price tracker by Gadgets360, ETH is trading at $2,681 (roughly Rs. 2.25 lakh).

On the crypto charts, Dogecoin, Cardano, Avalanche, Chainlink, and Litecoin joined BTC and ETH on the profits side on Thursday.

Stellar, Cronos, Polygon, EOS Coin, and Underdog managed to retain minor gains on the price chart as well.

“Market optimism was fueled by strong participation in Trump-backed WLFI tokens and anticipation of crypto-friendly regulations as the US presidential elections approach. The rising inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, which have seen over $19 billion (roughly Rs. 1,59,626 crore) in net, also contributed to the bullish sentiment. Meanwhile, BlackRock’s positive outlook and Standard Chartered’s forecast of BTC reaching $73,000 (roughly Rs. 61.3 lakh) have further boosted momentum,” said Mudrex CEO Edul Patel.

The overall valuation of the crypto market rose by 0.74 percent in the last 24 hours. With this, the valuation of the sector has come to $2.32 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,94,90,934 crore), showed CoinMarketCap.

Meanwhile Tether, Binance Coin, Solana, USD Coin, and Tron registered losses on Thursday.

Shiba Inu, Polkadot, Near Protocol, Leo, Cosmos, and Bitcoin SV also recorded price drops on the crypto chart.