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Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has expressed surprise at the resilience of Bitcoin amid such trying times.
Balchunas said he is surprised that BTC is hovering around $85,000 after what the markets have gone through. It shows its toughness and counters the notion that Bitcoin is just a “high beta version of tech,” he added.
Balchunas made the observation on X (formerly Twitter) on Apr. 15 while comparing the year-to-date (YTD) return of MicroStrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), rebranded to Strategy, and Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (Nasdaq: QQQ).
Founded by Michael Saylor, Strategy is the business intelligence firm that is well-known for being the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. It holds 531,644 BTC as of Apr. 15.
Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the performance of the Nasdaq-100. The Nasdaq-100 is an index made up of equity securities issued by 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
While MSTR offered a YTD return of 7% at the moment, QQQ offered a negative YTD return of 10%, Balchunas observed. He added that he thought spot ETFs, along with a strong stock market, sent Bitcoin rallying from $30,000 to $70,000 in early 2024. He thought Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election sent its price upwards of $100,000.
Conversely, the stock market drawdown, disappointment around Trump, and ETF outflows should have led to Bitcoin dipping to $60,000, but it is “shockingly strong” at the $85,000 mark, Balchunas remarked.
“I'm an ETF maxi, but I'm very respectful of bitcoin, it's earned it,” the analyst responded to a user.
As per Kraken’s price feed, Bitcoin was trading at $84,924.36 at press time. Despite an impressive recovery attempt amidst Trump’s tariff war, it was still way lower than the pre-Apr. 2 price level of $87,000.