Bitcoin $BTC saw elevated demand in October as the surge nearly led to a new all-time high. Now the looming US election on November 5 is shaping up as a catalyst for growth, depending on who gets to become President of the United States.

Bullishness is in the air. The OG token — Bitcoin #BTCUSD — pumped hard in yet another October. Staying true to the “Uptober” tradition, BTC added 11% over the month, kicking it all the way up to more than $73,000, just a few hundred bucks shy of its record high logged in March.

The powerful surge is now taking a breather with prices diving back under the $70,000 threshold. But not for long, according to some analysts who are already living post November 5. What’s that? It’s the biggest event of the year — economically, politically, and … cryptolitically?

Gloves on, bell rings, the main event is here — in the blue corner is Democrat Kamala Harris facing her red-shorts opponent, Republican Donald Trump. The current Vice President and the former President are squaring up for the top spot in American politics. And both have vastly differing viewpoints on crypto.

If we were to play favorites, it’s fair to say that Donald Trump is winning the hearts of the crypto faithful. Throughout his rallying and campaigning, he’s made it clear that he believes in Bitcoin’s growth potential. What’s more, he’s embraced digital assets in general and wants to see the market thrive in the world’s biggest economy.

The promises don’t stop there. Trump has vowed to make the US the “crypto capital of the world” and dig out all the remaining Bitcoins from within US grounds. He also pledged to set up a Bitcoin strategic reserve and fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who is seen as a roadblock to future crypto growth.

Hence the so-called “Trump trade,” which has been propelling the orange coin to higher places.

On the other end of the spectrum is Kamala Harris who has adopted a warm, but not that warm stance toward crypto. She’s all about casting a sweeping regulatory framework over the industry. The Democratic candidate has vowed to “encourage innovative technologies” like digital assets. Still better than President Joe Biden’s crackdown on the sector.

More interestingly, Trump has recruited a key player on his team. Elon Musk, the world’s richest guy (depending on the day) and CEO of Tesla

TSLA

, is a major donor to Trump’s campaign. He is looking to potentially get employed by the government as head of — can you guess? — Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE (a nod to Musk’s beloved coin).

"I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government," Trump said at a rally back in September.

“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed,” the eccentric billionaire wrote on his X platform.

How is that bullishness trickling into the markets? Besides the obvious price leap, options traders are ramping up their bets for $80,000 Bitcoin by the end of November. Implied volatility on November 5 is elevated — $BTC options flag a 30% chance of a 10% swing in the price. Stay cool, stay ready.

On the ETFs front, exchange-traded funds that hold genuine Bitcoin and offer spot trading pulled in around $4 billion of net new money in October. The biggest winner of all 11 spot BTC ETFs is the BlackRock-owned iShares Bitcoin Trust, which holds more than $26 billion in assets.

Traders broadly (not just the crypto space) may be pricing in a Trump victory and scooping up some of the assets that are likely to do well under his term. But while Trump is ahead in prediction markets, he’s neck-and-neck with Harris in the national polls, making Election Day all the more uncertain.

With that said, Bitcoin is up 57% on the year, outperforming other large-cap assets, such as gold XAUUSD, up 35% in a stellar year of its own, and the S&P 500 SPX, up 20% year to date, also enjoying lots of buying appetite.

Whose side are you on and do you think we'll see a huge swing in the price of #Bitcoin come November 5? Share your thoughts below!