Bitcoin Awaits Institutional Demand for Next Leg Higher, Oanda Says

Bitcoin (BTC) is drifted higher, changing hands around $59,000, as buyers awaited the next wave of institutional demand, according to Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, a foreign exchange broker.

A brief price pop earlier Monday came after MicroStrategy, the Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm, bought $15 million of BTC at an average price of $59,339 per coin, adding to its already substantial hoard.

The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has risen by about 36% over the past month. Oanda’s Moya told CoinDesk in an interview that the bullish sentiment stemmed at least partly fueled by excitement over the much-anticipated public stock listing of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Now, the focus shifts back to institutional players with deep pockets, which could support the next leg higher above $60,000 in BTC.

Some altcoins have been outperforming BTC over the past month. Ether (ETH) reached an all-time high and is up about 60% since March. XRP is up about 90% over the same time period versus BTC’s gain of about 36%.