Crypto stocks see price rally as Bitcoin tops $66K

Publicly traded crypto-linked firms in the United States saw gains on Oct. 14 as Bitcoin rallied 6% to briefly hit $66,400 — its highest price since July 30.

Bitcoin BTCUSD miner CleanSpark (CLSK) was the strongest performer for the day, closing up 12.72% at $10.81 and continuing to climb 1.72% after hours to $11, Google Finance data shows.

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) followed, closing with an 11.3% gain at $196.35 — a seven-week high — and continued to climb 1.71% to $199.70 in after-hours trading.

Crypto miner IREN (IREN) — formerly Iris Energy — also saw double-digit percentage point gains of 10.21%, while competitors TeraWulf (WULF) and MARA Holdings Inc (MARA), formerly Marathon Digital, rallied 6.65% and 5.6%, respectively.

Semler Scientific (SMLR) — a medical manufacturer firm that copied MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin-buying playbook — traded flat on Oct. 14 but then increased 4.3% in after-hours trading, while digital payments firm Block Inc. gained 2.8%, Yahoo Finance data shows.

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy (MSTR) — which holds 252,220 BTC worth $16 billion — was one of the few that closed down on the day, dropping 5.1% to $201.67 but saw a slight 1.65% bump to $205 after hours.

Bitcoin miner Core Scientific (CORZ) also fell by 1.9% to $12.97, with a slight recovery to $13.05 after the bell.

The rallies and after-hours gains came alongside a 5.7% bump in Bitcoin price over the last 24 hours — which saw it briefly hitting its highest price since July 30 — prompting some industry analysts to speculate if “Uptober” has finally begun.

Bitcoin analyst On-Chain College noted in an Oct. 14 X post that Bitcoin cleared its 200-day moving average and short-term holder cost basis of $62,600 — both key bull market support levels signaling a possible price breakthrough.

“Has Uptober begun?!” On-Chain College pondered.

In an Oct. 14 X post, Dan Tapiero, founder of crypto investment firm 10T Holdings, added Bitcoin is “on the verge” of breaking through $70,000.

Uptober — a bullish term for October that has seen Bitcoin’s price increase in nine of the last 11 October months — often kickstarts strong fourth quarters for Bitcoin, CoinGlass data shows.

CK Zheng, chief investment officer of crypto hedge fund ZX Squared Capital, believes the 2024 halving event and the upcoming US election can help push Bitcoin above its all-time high price of $73,738 in the fourth quarter — or soon after.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $66,270 — still 10.4% off its all-time high set on March 14, CoinGecko data shows.