• Bitcoin climbed above $38,161 on Wednesday, its highest mark in 18 months.
• In a bullish signal for investors, market expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in 2024 have ramped up.
• Standard Chartered forecasted Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of next year.

Bitcoin rose 1% on Wednesday to reach $38,168, its highest level since April and May 2022, when prices collapsed amid a brutal bear market.

In November, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization experienced a gain of over 10%, driven by market anticipations of the Federal Reserve initiating rate cuts in 2024.

Easing monetary policy should be a bullish tailwind for digital assets, as investors typically pull back from riskier investments when interest rates climb. 

In 2023 so far, bitcoin is up about 130%, and Wall Street is bullish that more big gains are on the way.

Standard Chartered said Tuesday that bitcoin will hit $100,000 by the end of 2024, reiterating an earlier forecast. Meanwhile, technical analyst Katie Stockton said bitcoin could be poised for another surge in the coming weeks. 

“Bitcoin would resolve its consolidation phase higher with a move above $38,000, which would act as a catalyst for a test of $42,200 resistance,” Stockton told clients earlier this week.

Crypto traders also hope the Securities and Exchange Commission approves a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Institutional players, Fidelity and BlackRock have lined up for the regulatory greenlight, while Grayscale won a critical legal battle against the SEC earlier this year.

Another bullish event on the horizon is the April 2024 halving, which is when the amount of bitcoin produced via mining is cut in half. 

In the 12 months following the prior three halvings in 2012, 2016, and 2020, bitcoin skyrocketed 8,069%, 284%, and 559%, respectively.