Tech
Bitcoin price rises as experts predict a new all-time high in a few days
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Bitcoin is once again pushing towards an all-time high after a major price rally in recent days.
THE cryptocurrency it traded above $70,000 (£55,000) on Wednesday, up 10% on the last week and just $3,000 away from the record high reached in March.
THE last price rise and the continued momentum has led some market analysts to speculate that a new all-time high could be reached in the coming days.
Crypto expert Simon Peters said the positive week was the result of lighter-than-expected inflation data in the United States.
“Bitcoin in particular, it has become increasingly correlated with US stock markets in recent weeks,” Peters, who works as an analyst at online trading platform eToro, wrote in an email to The Independent.
“As we enter the second half of the year, macroeconomic climate, particularly inflation data and potential interest rate cuts, will play a critical role in the direction of bitcoin prices for the remainder of the year.”
Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered Bank, told The Block that he expects a “new all-time high in bitcoin by the weekend.”
Other major cryptocurrencies have also seen significant gains in recent days Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Avalanche (AVAX) are up 15-25% over the past seven days.
Dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano (ADA) have seen more modest gains, both up around 7% over the same period.
The positive price movements have pushed the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization above $2.5 trillion.
Alex Kuptsikevich, senior analyst at FxPro, said some market signals point to “a return to the bullish trend” that dominated the first months of the year.
Between January and March 2024, bitcoin rose from just over $40,000 to its record high of $73,798, according to data from price tracker CoinMarketCap, largely supported by early U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January .
This followed an even more notable surge in 2023 that saw the price of bitcoin nearly triple in just 12 months.