The price of Bitcoin has surged to its highest point since last November, reaching an average of almost $4,850 according to crypto asset price comparison site Coinmarketcap. Having broken the $5,000 mark on some exchanges, the Bitcoin price has since retreated back to around $4,720 at the time of writing.
Many long-term commentators on the space have taken the sudden price rise as an indicator of the end of the ongoing bear market. However, others believe the surge to be simply another bull-trap-bounce and that lower prices are to be expected.
Bitcoin Posts Big Gains, But Will It Last?
As usual when the Bitcoin price shoots up, there is a mad scramble to explain the sudden shift. Speaking to Reuters, Oliver von Landsberg, CEO of crypto firm BCB Group, offered one potential explanation:
“There has been a single order that has been algorithmically-managed across these three venues [Coinbase, Bitstamp, and Kraken], of around 20,000 BTC… If you look at the volumes on each of those three exchanges – there were in-concert, synchronized, units of volume of around 7,000 BTC in an hour”.
Landsberg went on to state that the Bitcoin price action caused by these large, anonymous orders had triggered a flurry of automated trading. However, the reasoning behind the timing of the orders Landsberg refers to remains a mystery.
Bloomberg did speculate that an April Fools article claiming that the long-awaited Bitcoin ETF had finally been approved by the SEC could have triggered a frenzy of buying action, perhaps even influencing the placing of the orders cited by Reuters. However, other prominent individuals from the crypto industry were less inclined to draw such conclusions. The CEO of exchange platform Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Tweeted the following:
anyone know any news? I have been asked "a few" times, but honestly clueless.
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) April 2, 2019
Meanwhile, caring less for reasons, others have proclaimed that the sudden upwards movement of the Bitcoin price is indicative that the bear market of 2018/19 is well and truly behind us.
Long-term Bitcoin bull and RT News presenter, Max Keiser, Tweeted:
#Bitcoin momentum has shifted bullish. As I tweeted a few months ago, when the Fed indicated they were moving to “permanent QE,” BTC bottomed out and the stage is set for new ATH.
— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) April 2, 2019
Sharing his sentiment is Trace Mayer, a successful investor and early Bitcoin evangelist. Mayer often refers to a metric used to judge how overbought or sold Bitcoin is. This “Mayer Multiple” has been indicating that Bitcoin has been a good buy for the last few months:
Hope everyone accumulated plenty of #Bitcoin while @TIPMayerMultple flashed 'cheap' signal being below 0.8.
'Expensive' signal above 2.4 probably while away.
Meanwhile, $BTC fundamentals & network effects keep getting stronger.#RightAgain 🌴@PrestonPysh @TuurDemeester @lopp pic.twitter.com/UCx2Ev3RHl
— Trace Mayer (@TraceMayer) April 2, 2019
Other prominent commentators on the space reflected on investor rationale and how it might impact the rest of the crypto market. The Crypto Dog speculated that any bullish upswing for Bitcoin might be amplified for altcoins:
https://twitter.com/TheCryptoDog/status/1113092363520524294
Meanwhile, popular podcaster and co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital, Anthony Pompliano, simply stated:
BITCOIN IS BACK, BABY 🔥📈
— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) April 2, 2019
However, not everyone with a generally bullish outlook on the Bitcoin and crypto industry shares the short-term optimism of those mentioned thus far. Tyler Jenks, the founder of Lucid Investments and an experienced trader, still believes that the price must first return to its pre-2017-bull-run levels before another bull market can start properly. This, according to Jenks, would involve a drop to between $1,000 and $2,000. More information about Jenks’s projections can be found via his YouTube channel, HyperWave.
Bitcoin hit Tone’s $5,100 target. Congratulations!! Great call. Watch his vlog this morning from Istanbul airport. Calls top perfectly! No, change by Bear market views. @LeahWald @ToneVays @venzen @Sawcruhteez
— Tyler Jenks (@LucidInvestment) April 2, 2019
Despite stating that Bitcoin is still very much in a bear market, Jenks does have optimism for its future. He believes the number one digital asset by market capitalisation could one day serve as a global reserve currency. In this scenario, the investor sees a price of over $10 million per BTC long-term.
Related Reading: Why Today’s Bitcoin Rally Does Not Mean The End of The Bear Market
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