Another day, another crypto bounce. That seems to be the mantra these days.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) soared in overnight trading, poking above $43,000 once again, and remaining in striking distance of that all-important psychological barrier well into the morning.

Bitcoin has been on a steady upward trajectory since October, when it broke through the $35,000 mark for the first time since 2022.

This brings Bitcoin’s total gains for 2023 to more than 158%, with a gain topping as much as 5% just over the last 24 hours.

BTC has now regained all the ground it lost since the Terra blockchain’s LUNA coin crash and the onset of crypto winter in May 2022.

In addition, Ethereum (ETH) has been gaining along with BTC, although not as substantially. ETH is up as much as 4.7% over the past 24 hours as well, steadily maintaining its price over $2,200 once again.

Why is Bitcoin Going Up Right Now?

The current bullish sentiment in Bitcoin comes from a wave of optimism surrounding BlackRock revising its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF late on Monday. Many investors assumed that occurred due to regulatory feedback, which could bring the possibility of the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs even closer.

This most recent wave of spot Bitcoin ETF excitement kicked off in June when BlackRock initially filed its application for one. The application was quickly followed by other major financial institutions applying for their own as well, including Fidelity, Invesco and WisdomTree.

Currently, the Securities and Exchange Commission has only approved crypto ETFs trading in cryptocurrency futures. Futures are investment instruments that are based on the potential future price of an asset like Bitcoin.

If spot Bitcoin ETFs were to be approved for trading, crypto investors believe, that could open up a wave of institutional and mainstream investment interest in the previously struggling asset class, which would only further bolster the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin’s price.

“With the pending ETFs on the horizon, I believe the supply and demand curve has shifted even further to the upside as ETFs create a path for increased institutional adoption of Bitcoin,” says Zach Bradford, CEO of Bitcoin miner CleanSpark.

Is Crypto Winter Over?

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies suffered following a wave of bankruptcies, collapses and negative rulings that started in the spring of 2022.

First, there was Terra’s LUNA coin debacle, which kicked off crypto winter in May 2022.

Then, after a brutal summer for crypto investors, the collapse of leading crypto exchange FTX in November 2022 looked like the final nail in the coffin.

In addition, throughout 2023, both the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have brought numerous regulatory lawsuits against some of the largest crypto exchanges and companies, hampering many of their abilities to do business in the U.S., the world’s largest economy.

However, with the industry’s recent gains, both Bitcoin and Ethereum have finally regained all the ground they lost over the past year and a half.

What Does Bitcoin’s Bounce Mean for Investors?

It’s really starting to look like the Bitcoin bottom has arrived and crypto winter is over. But as experienced investors know, even this current rally could still be another dead cat bounce—when prices temporarily rebound amid a longer-term negative trend, only to resume their downward fall after that.

While it’s looking increasingly likely that Bitcoin may truly be on the rise again, the reality is that we are in unprecedented territory regarding a number of factors, including the geopolitical climate, economic indicators, crypto regulations and the Fed’s relationship to interest rates.

Anyone familiar with the cryptocurrency industry knows that even in the best of times, predicting the short-term price action of digital assets is nearly impossible. That holds particularly true in this market environment.