UPDATED 22:38 EDT / APRIL 07 2019

BLOCKCHAIN

To the moon or low Earth orbit? Bitcoin price continues to soar

Bitcoin has maintained a price surge that started on April Fool’s Day, reaching new yearly highs over the weekend in what many believe may indicate a long-term bull run.

The cryptocurrency broke through the $5,000 mark on Tuesday, its highest level since November, and managed to maintain prices in that vicinity — $4,900 to $5,100 — before climbing again on Sunday. As of 10:15 p.m EDT, bitcoin was trading at $5,320.13, up 5 percent over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin enthusiasts popularized the term of “to the moon” to describe price increases. But so far it may more be that bitcoin is heading into a slightly more modest low Earth orbit, the latter indicative of bitcoin’s price relative to its highs at the end of 2017.

Not unlike a rocket blasting into space, bitcoin will face resistance levels as it continues to climb higher. One analyst on Twitter suggested that bitcoin’s next resistance levels — an upper price level for a security that is repeatedly reached but not exceeded because of resistance from the market — will come at $5,500, $5,700, $6,800 and $8,400.

Much of the forward momentum in bitcoin’s price is being credited to increasing volumes, the idea being that the higher demand for bitcoin, the higher its price will be.

Despite news that Cboe Global Markets was dropping support for Bitcoin Futures due to a low level of interest, the same can’t be said for Bitcoin Futures from rival exchange CME Group, which saw a record trading day for the contracts on April 4.

The upswing in bitcoin’s price has also seen increased interest in other leading cryptocurrencies, with NewsBTC reporting that Bitcoin Cash surged 13% on Sunday. Litecoin rose 10% and Ethereum 3% as well.

The question being asked is whether the current price increase is sustainable. Bitcoin has been here many times before, so its price bottoming out and then increasing again isn’t surprising. But after the record run last time, whether investors will be as enthusiastic this time around is the great unknown.

Image: NASA

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