Bitcoin sees volatility ahead of elections, altcoins follow

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) leads the cryptocurrency market in a period of increased volatility ahead of the United States elections.

Market data shows that Bitcoin has increased its price by 0.77% over the last 24 hours, currently trading at $68,550. Over that length of time, the price has oscillated between $67,600 and $69,325 — a variation of 2.55%. The current price is also over 5.6% lower than this week’s $73,460 high, following changes in the outlook for the upcoming United States presidential elections.

The dip in Bitcoin’s price followed a shift in United States polls, making Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Devi Harris the most likely winner with a slim 1.1% lead in the nationwide polls. She scores 48.3% in nationwide polls, against 47.2% for her Republican counterpart Donald Trump.

Crypto prediction market Polymarket sees nearly 57% of the funds being bet on a Trump victory, while only 43% instead expect Harris to win, after a Democrat win being seen as the most likely outcome in late September. This is in line with the United States regulated prediction market Kalshi, where 57.6% of the money is bet on a Republican win, while only 42.4% on a Democrat victory.

Most of the market participants see a Trump victory as the more favorable outcome for the cryptocurrency industry, especially with Harris not having a clear stance on crypto. This was further reinforced following the late August announcement of his decentralized finance (DeFi) platform — leading to the presidential candidate being personally invested in the future of the industry.

Bitcoin specifically has been mentioned by Trump during the campaign. This summer the Republican candidate showed support for plans to create a United States strategic Bitcoin reserve. The plan in question has attracted a fair share of criticism, but Bitcoin proponents see this as potential validation by the world’s most influential nation that would also significantly decrease the coin’s available supply.

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