The cryptocurrency rally that began in 2023 and continued into the first quarter came to an abrupt halt in April. Bitcoin (BTC), in particular, was in the spotlight as the world’s most popular cryptocurrency witnessed an unprecedented surge earlier this year.
The rally gained momentum in the second half of January, just days after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in a historic move that will allow both retail and institutional investors to invest in the cryptocurrency in a regulated and accessible manner.
On March 14, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $73,750. However, the crypto rally stalled after that. Even the quadrennial Bitcoin halving event in April failed to boost the cryptocurrency’s price.
The Bitcoin halving aims to limit the total number of Bitcoins to 21 million by halving the reward for mining new blocks. This decrease in the rate at which new Bitcoins are created increases demand for the cryptocurrency and often leads to an increase in its price.
Bitcoin has been on a downward slide since then, dropping to $53,513 in late June. However, Bitcoin defied the downtrend and began to recover last week. On July 18, Bitcoin was trading above $63,500.
The cryptocurrency jumped 5.2 percent after falling 1.6 percent last month.
Needless to say, Bitcoin still has a lot of potential; the cryptocurrency is set to gain 157% in 2023 and 51.3% year-to-date.
Several factors are responsible for Bitcoin’s recent rally. The failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has prompted investors to increase their bets on Trump’s chances of winning the November election.
Trump is also thought to be more tolerant of the cryptocurrency industry, and his campaign has begun accepting donations in cryptocurrencies.
In addition, US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell announced in June that the central bank now plans to cut interest rates only once this year, instead of the three previously expected cuts.
However, since many people think that there will be no rate cut in 2024, even a rate cut of just 25 basis points was welcomed.
The FOMC’s latest “dot plot” shows a total 1% decrease in interest rates projected through 2025, suggesting the possibility of the Fed funds rate reaching 4.1% by the end of next year.
Markets are now expecting a rate cut in September, which could benefit the cryptocurrency market. Lower interest rates typically help growth-oriented assets like tech stocks, consumer goods, and cryptocurrencies.
The story continues
Our Choices
We narrowed down our search to four crypto-focused stocks with strong potential for 2024. Each of our picks carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy), or 3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
NVIDIA Corporation NVDA is a global leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphics processing unit, or GPU. Over the years, NVDA’s focus has evolved from PC graphics to AI-based solutions that now support high-performance computing, gaming, and virtual reality platforms.
NVIDIA’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 106.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved by 11.2% in the past 60 days. NVDA is currently holding a Zacks Rank #1.
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. IBKR is a global automated electronic broker. IBKR executes, processes and trades cryptocurrencies. IBKR’s commodity futures trading desk also offers clients the opportunity to trade cryptocurrency futures.
Interactive Brokers Group’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 18.8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved by 5.2% in the past 60 days. IBKR currently has a Zacks Rank of #2.
Block Inc. SQ is an online digital and mobile payments platform for consumers and merchants and is the parent company of Square and Cash App. Cash App users can buy, sell, send and receive Bitcoin. Additionally, SQ’s decentralized tbd platform allows developers to create decentralized finance applications that run on programmable blockchains. SQ is also one of the largest investors in Bitcoin.
Block’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 72.8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 0.6% in the past 60 days. SQ currently has a Zacks Rank #3.
Robinhood Markets, Inc. HOOD operates a financial services platform in the United States. Its platform allows users to invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds, options, gold, and cryptocurrencies. HOOD buys and sells Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other cryptocurrencies using the Robinhood Crypto platform.
Robinhood Markets’ current-year expected earnings growth rate is above 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 89.7% in the past 90 days. Robinhood Markets currently has a Zacks Rank of #2.
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