BTC's alive!

A gathering storm of macro forces (i.e. inflation) and bullish willpower sent Bitcoin suddenly, sharply higher early on Thursday. As bears looked to drive BTC to well below $60K, the biggest-cap coin steeled its spine and flung itself back over that closely watched fence, landing on its feet, at about $61K.

"Bulls enjoyed a $1,700 hourly candle," Cointelegraph said moments ago. "Another classic surge."

And we saw some classic dip buying. Well played, El Salvador. Its latest purchase, of 420 more BTCs, rose 0.4% right after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele tweeted "we bought the dip!"

That nation’s reserves now stand at 1,120 BTCs, purchased at an average price of $53,324.29, over the course of roughly the past seven weeks, in four main installments. It's a footnote to a spree next to an asterisk, but consider there was a time, one decade ago, when 420 BTC was $420. El Salvador's latest purchase is equal to $24.7 million.

Canine-inspired meme coins, meanwhile, are aggressively vying for market-cap supremacy (CoinDesk).

As things stood Thursday at 8:15 a.m. (EST), Shiba Inu (SHIB) was in the ninth spot on a 24-hour gain of 36%. Behind it, in tenth, is Dogecoin (DOGE), up 26% in that same period. The latter's market cap is nearly $39B. SHIB's is nearly $43B, or roughly $1.5 billion less than eighth-largest coin Polkadot (DOT). Since yesterday, DOT, flying for now above this dogfight, has gained 2%.

We're a few days from Halloween and one week out from peak Bitcoin. It’s been great. Guzzling cider, checking out old 1930s-era monster movies – waiting to be scared, trying not to fall asleep – it sure is fun this time of year; and not too dissimilar from watching BTC price action.

Over seven days, the largest digital coin in terms of total market capitalization has declined 7.7%. Fear didn't take hold, rather just some "ah, we've seen this before" boredom except with a buzz.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt, often credited for being prescient about BTC forecasts in the past and obviously unfazed by the wipeout taking place yesterday, declared that by the time this week/month is in the books, come Monday, BTC price action will have appeared exhaustingly sideways (Cointelegraph).

The clock on BTC options expiry is ticking toward a wild, wicked clash. While bulls have driven BTC's price back above $60,000 as of Thursday, the test of trader stomach linings still has some ways go, before the end of the afternoon, tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 29, when the $3.2 billion monthly options expiry settles and costume parties begin.

Bears, dressed as wolves dressed as sheep, only one day ago saw $55K as a level most likely theirs, and possibly one at which to assert control. However, bulls, clad in full bull regalia, weren't having it and have now seized the momentum.

As far as some of the boldest BTC forecasts … time is running out. BTC being $100K by the end of the year can only slide off one’s tongue/twitter account for another two months, with the inexorable march from All Hallow's to New Year's Eve soon upon us.

WallStreetBets founder Jaime Rogozinski still believes BTC will hit $100K by the end of this year, he told BlockWorks.

CoinList CEO Graham Jenkin seems to agree. As do the birds of his feather.

“Most of the folks at CoinList will bet that we’re at $100,000 by the end of the year," he told CNBC. "It’s getting pretty tight so I’m not sure that we’re going to make it there, but that’s what we’re predicting toward the start of the year."

Nevertheless, there are powerful naysayers (e.g. J.P. Morgan honcho Jamie Dimon), around each corner, whispering in the corridors of power, and generally lurking like specters.