(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin advanced for a fifth straight day, putting the biggest cryptocurrency on pace for its biggest monthly gain since the October 2021 market mania. 

Bitcoin rose as much as 4.9% to $59,494 on Wednesday as of 10:15 a.m. in London. It has climbed on all but eight trading days so far in February, rallying 39% for the month. Digital-asset gains were broad, with Ether rising about 3% and Solana and Avalanche also trading higher. 

The launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the US in early January has driven a frenzy of buying, sweeping aside concerns that the Federal Reserve might keep interest rates higher for longer. With Bitcoin’s next “halving” looming in April, optimism among crypto bulls is increasing that the token could soon overtake the record of almost $69,000 it hit in November 2021. 

“We’re seeing evidence of elevated interest from both retail and institutional looking to get exposure to digital gold,” said Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck Associates. “History suggests even steeper and more violent rallies are ahead.

Read more: Grayscale Bitcoin ETF Exodus Reaches $7.4 Billion in 31 Days

Almost $43 million of short positions in Bitcoin have been liquidated on Wednesday, down from $93 million a day earlier, according to data from Coinglass. 

Even so, some analysts said the rally is getting stretched. Stefan von Haenisch, head of trading at OSL SG Pte in Singapore, pointed to elevated costs for borrowing to finance Bitcoin purchases as a potential risk. 

A “correction after such an aggressive move does seem inevitable — with funding rates at such high premiums, it’s a matter of time before leverage among longs gets flushed out,” he said. “A correction to mid-$50,000 on Bitcoin wouldn’t be unsurprising.”

He added, however, that any pullback would likely be short-lived as the inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs “feels unstoppable.”

(Updates with comment from OSL in sixth paragraph.)

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