Bitcoin (BTC) dominance, which represents the flagship cryptocurrency’s share of the total crypto market, is currently at around 48%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Notably, this was the same level of dominance that Bitcoin had before it hit its all-time high of nearly $20,000 last year.

If we look back to the end of last year, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency reached its record high of $19,783.21 on December 17th, 2017, which was just a few days before its market dominance reached 47.6% on December 20th.

Strong Hope For Bitcoin ETFs

Only a couple of weeks later, on January 2nd, 2018, BTC’s dominance fell to 36.1%, which was one of the lowest levels in the cryptocurrency’s history. At the moment though, while the BTC dominance level is back up again, it’s only trading at around $7,100 at the time of writing.

Despite bitcoin’s price being down considerably from near-$20,000, it has recovered from late June when it dropped below $6,000. Many attribute this recovery to Jay Clayton, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, stating that Bitcoin (BTC) was more of a commodity than a security, due to its decentralized nature.

Bitcoin’s price also surged a few weeks ago because many in the crypto community were anticipating the SEC’s approval and subsequent introduction of a Bitcoin ETF, which the federal regulator is still carefully reviewing at the moment and has said that it will give its decision (no or yes) regarding crypto ETFs in September.

It now appears that the SEC is still open to the idea of crypto ETFs, even after it rejected the most recent Bitcoin ETF application by the Winklevoss twins on July 26th. Many in the crypto community are optimistic about digital currency ETFs and are even expecting that the SEC will eventually approve them. This is another positive sign not only bitcoin, but for the other cryptocurrencies as well.

Positive Signs, Good News For Bitcoin (BTC)

In other good news for crypto, the International Exchange (ICE), which is the parent company of  the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), announced that it was planning to launch a Microsoft Cloud-based cryptocurrency trading desk via a company called Bakkt. Notably, ICE’s press release also mentioned that users would be able to exchange their crypto for USD to make easy purchases.

Interestingly, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee recently revealed to NBC’s “Fast Money” that his Bitcoin Misery Index (BMI) shows that Bitcoin (BTC) “isn’t broken”, provided that it sustains its current price and volatility levels. The financial analyst added that:

I think people are afraid it is going to go back down to $6,000 and never come back from those bear markets.

But he also noted that Bitcoin’s current high level of market dominance was a good sign and it is “actually showing the market is reacting to what’s been taking place.”