Bitcoin was seen trading over the psychologically important $40,000 level on Sunday evening with Ethereum and Dogecoin also showing an uptick in prices as the global cryptocurrency market cap rose 1.6% higher to $1.51 trillion.

Bitcoin crossed the $40,000 level for the first time since late April 2022, meanwhile, Ethereum was above the $2,200 level at the time of publishing.

The rise in Bitcoin prices comes amid a backdrop of a gradual rally, which has been fueled by expectations linked with the approval of a Bitcoin Spot ETF by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sunday’s Bitcoin action was in contrast with movement in other risk assets. Stock futures were largely flat at the time of publishing. On the other hand, Gold prices hit a record high on Friday. Notable Gold bull, Peter Schiff, was left unimpressed by Bitcoin’s $40,000 move and pointed out that the precious metal has “completely broken out.”

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Analyst Takes: Cryptocurrency trader Michaël van de Poppe said that Bitcoin was “up massively on the year” even when the sentiment was “we were going to have a really hard period.”

It should be noted that Van de Poppe said earlier that spot Bitcoin ETF approvals could come between January 5 and January 10.

Market intelligence platform, Santiment said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that “#FUD & #FOMO toward the ongoing #ETF confirmation dates will dictate whether $50K arrives sooner rather than later.”

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