Bitcoin (BTC/USD) has just hit a fresh all-time high after Tesla founder Elon Musk said that the company had invested USD1.5 billion in Bitcoin recently ‘and may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term’. Musk added that ‘moreover, we expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near-future’.

In a filing with the SEC Tesla revealed that 'we updated our investment policy to provide us with more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash that is not required to maintain adequate operating liquidity. As part of the policy, which was duly approved by the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors, we may invest a portion of such cash in certain alternative reserve assets including digital assets, gold bullion, gold exchange-traded funds and other assets as specified in the future. Thereafter, we invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in bitcoin under this policy and may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term. Moreover, we expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt'.

Tesla Filing

Bitcoin soars on the news and at the time of writing is 11% at just over $43,000. The rest of the cryptocurrency market is also pushing higher with Ethereum (ETH/USD) back above $1,700, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is 5% higher at $465.

Bitcoin Price Chart - February 8, 2021

(Click on image to enlarge)

Retail trader data show80.48% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 4.12 to 1.We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests Bitcoin prices may continue to fall.Positioning is more net-long than yesterday but less net-long from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed Bitcoin trading bias.