Bitcoin price jumps as JP Morgan plans to offer retail clients access to cryptocurrency funds

Bitcoin price reaches a technical inflection point as it builds on the upside momentum initiated yesterday and is supported by the breaking JPMorgan news. A release from the falling wedge pattern will provoke sizeable gains for BTC investors.

JPMorgan targets new service to grow wealth management business 

In response to the growing interest in cryptocurrency investing, JPMorgan, a titan of wealth management, has expanded cryptocurrency trading beyond ultra-wealthy clients to all of its wealth management clients. As a result, it becomes the first major financial institution to expand cryptocurrency services to retail clients.

The expansion of the service will apply to all JPMorgan wealth management clients that request unsolicited crypto trades for five cryptocurrency products effective July 19. The clients are those looking for investment advice, including the ones who use the Chase trading app. The range of cryptocurrency products is four funds from Grayscale Investments, including the Bitcoin Trust, Ethereum Trust and the Osprey Funds’ Bitcoin Trust.

It is a milestone for the bank’s digital asset services and marks a departure from Jamie Dimon’s negative comments about Bitcoin in May. He said he was not a “bitcoin supporter” and that he “didn’t care about bitcoin.”

Nevertheless, clients are interested in cryptocurrencies and want access to investment vehicles dedicated to the new asset class, according to Mary Callahan Erdoes, JPMorgan’s Director of Asset and Wealth Management. 

It is our job to help them put their money where they want to invest.

Financial rivals like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America have not provided retail customers direct access to cryptocurrencies, thereby putting JPMorgan in a prime position to grow their wealth management business.

Bitcoin price builds on yesterday’s upside momentum

Since the May crash, Bitcoin price has been forming a falling wedge pattern, highlighting a decrease in downside momentum and proposing a bullish outlook for the flagship cryptocurrency. Yesterday’s 7.85% advance lifted BTC to the upper resistance line of the falling wedge, and today, the digital asset has followed through on the rally with a fresh test of the line.

Critical to the bullish outlook is a daily close above the upper resistance line, followed by a close above the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) at $34,500. If the breakout becomes impulsive, Bitcoin price could rally to the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the April-June correction at $42,589 or even the 200-day SMA at $44,664, logging a 30% gain from the 50-day SMA.

BTC/USD daily chart

A daily close below the neckline of the larger head-and-shoulders pattern at $30,600 would introduce new downside risk and potential for Bitcoin price to test the June 22 low of $28,800 and then the falling wedge’s lower support line at $27,800.

With JPMorgan expanding the cryptocurrency service offerings to retail clients, Bitcoin price will discover a new source of interest and capital to confirm the correction low and drive BTC to new, profitable outcomes for investors.

Here, FXStreet's analysts evaluate where BTC could be heading next as it seems bound for a rebound before capitulation.