After all the fanfare about the upcoming Bitcoin ETF approval, prices of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin itself have decreased sharply, erasing all hopes of breakout towards all time high and, presumably, taking out lots of leveraged long bets in the process.

It appears that most of the ETF buying has already happened in the months leading up to the SEC approval, and there will be very little buying until ETFs grow to certain size and reserves no longer cover all the "paper Bitcoin" shares. It is also possible that initial demand for ETF products has been disappointing, and issuers are in no hurry to buy any extra reserves.

The charts suggest a textbook case of "buy the rumors sell the news", although I do not think the main driving factor of Bitcoin gains has been speculation or even "mechanical" buying of would-be ETFs.

Entire asset market space has seen powerful tailwinds ever since Federal Reserve signaled end of its tightening policies. Even if we have no set date for when Fed will start cutting rates, we can at least see "light at the end of tunnel" and capital markets have strongly reacted to this. Some prominent indicators like S&P500 are even reaching all time highs, surpassing the post-Covid stimulus "sugar high".

I believe the major driving factor for Bitcoin and altcoin price rises has been macroeconomics. This is not going to change, and having exchange traded funds as convenient alternative way to buy Bitcoin exposure will no doubt propel prices even further, regardless of any short term speculative selling hysteria.