Bitcoin hits a milestone as its price reaches $54,900 for the first time since November 2021. This jump in price has sparked predictions of a pre-halving breakout, with analysts anticipating further gains for BTC. On Coinbase, the cryptocurrency reached highs of $54,980, pushing its market cap over $1.06 trillion.

In the ETF market, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ($IBIT) saw over $1 billion in trades, ranking it 11th among all ETFs. This performance is being hailed as remarkable, especially for a new ETF with ten competitors. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, this kind of volume is enough to catch the attention of institutions.

Entrepreneur and investor Anthony Pompliano believes that Bitcoin is a “runaway train” with no brakes, as long as ETF inflows continue to surpass the amount of BTC being produced by the network. With the upcoming halving, which will halve the number of BTC mined, there could be a supply shock that propels BTC price to new heights.

With the halving just 52 days away, the excitement in the market is palpable. Earlier in the day, BTC broke above $53,000 as MicroStrategy announced the acquisition of an additional 3,000 BTC for $155 million, bringing their total Bitcoin holdings to 193,000 BTC. CEO Michael Saylor revealed that the company’s average purchase price was $51,813.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $54,331 and could potentially break above $55,000 on its way to reach $60,000 before the halving.