Bitcoin price reached a high of $5930 May 7 as renewed momentum fuelled a market surge towards the significant $6000 barrier.
Bitcoin Price Highest Since November 2018
Data from traditionally more conservative price tracker Bitstamp showed BTC/USD trading just under $5900 at press time.
The pair reached its highest value since November 2018 earlier on Tuesday, coming within just $70 of $6000 across major exchanges.
The $6K level was critical last year in maintaining support for months. Therefore, it will be key resistance to break in officially confirming the end of the bear market.
The trend continues a bullish phase which began April 1, with Bitcoin broadly maintaining new support above $5000 since that time.
Are Shorts Forecasting $6k?
Market strength continues despite controversy over the past two weeks, with exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin Tether (USDT) currently at the heart of $850 million fraud allegations.
Brought by the New York Attorney General, both the defendants and a Supreme Court judge appear unconvinced by the claims, which only succeeded in impacting markets for several days before Bitcoin’s winning streak continued.
On Monday meanwhile, news China was limiting foreign currency withdrawals combined with Bitcoin shorts exhibiting unusual behavior, rising in time with Bitcoin price [coin_price] in a move which began drawing attention among analysts on social media.
The trend lasted only hours before shorts tailed off, anticipation nonetheless building that previously prophecies from late last month could now come true for Bitcoin price.
Longer term, other theories put now as the ideal time to continue accumulating Bitcoin despite the Bitcoin price gains from $3100 in December.
Highlighting current conditions as an example of a phenomenon which has only occurred three times in Bitcoin history, analyst Plan B suggested that the cryptocurrency’s next leg-up should occur in 2020, coinciding with the block reward halving.
Similar sentiment had already come from industry research, with the May 2020 halving tipped to begin impacting markets as soon as June this year.
Bitcoin Outshines Alts
On altcoin markets, Bitcoin price achieved a conspicuous knock-on effect for investors.
Ethereum, which had long traded sideways, became Tuesday’s best performer out the top twenty cryptocurrencies by market cap, gaining 7.8 percent to reach $177.
Outside news, such as comments from US regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) suggesting it would be accepting of an ETH-based exchange-traded fund (ETF), further buoyed investors.
Elsewhere, Tezos matched ETH performance, while Binance Coin failed to break out of its less volatile trading corridor around $22.
Coinmarketcap, which provides averaged trading data from exchanges, had earlier confirmed it had removed Bitfinex from its Bitcoin listings after it traded around $300 higher than elsewhere over a week-long period.
Currently, Bitcoin price is well over $6200 on Bitfinex.
What do you think about the Bitcoin price in the near term? Let us know in the comments below!
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