Bitcoin surge leads market to four-month high

Crypto asset markets have been in the doldrums for the best part of a year and market capitalization has shrunk every month as the digital selloff has continued. But today marked a turnaround – Bitcoin climbed sharply on Tuesday and ended trading in Asia on a four-month high. 

Bitcoin finally broke through the $4,000 mark. It’s a price point that’s has been seen as a key market resistance level and, once broken, Bitcoin surged upwards. Within two hours of trading on Tuesday it reached a high of just over $5,000, according to charts from Tradingview.com.

Ever since it fell through the $4,000 level, in November last year, Bitcoin has struggled to break back. The king of cryptocurrencies has tested it several times before falling back again. A number of observers and analysts, however, have been predicting a significant rise as, since early February, Bitcoin has formed a gradual uptrend which has taken its price ever closer to the pivotal $4,000 level.

Today it did, during the Asian trading session, and the resultant price surge reportedly added $17 billion to digital asset markets in less than an hour.

Many market observers have also argued that once Bitcoin moves above the $4,700 mark, according to its exponential moving average (or EMA) value – a calculation used by analysts to track longer-term market movement – it is moving into an uptrend cycle. If sustained, this could then start the return of a full crypto bull market.

Many are saying that right now it is too early to tell. But others, as ever in the speculation-loving world of crypto, say the $10,000 Bitcoin price is once again just around the corner. 

The one-day “candle” that started the price surge has yet to close and Bitcoin pulled back a little, as expected, and settled at the $4,750 level at the time of writing.

Bitcoin has been the bellwether for the rest of the cryptos, since its inception a decade ago. It is the digital gold standard for the rest of the alternative coins, or ‘altcoins’ and, as expected, the market as a whole was lifted by today’s epic pump as total capitalization surged to over $160 billion. This marks its highest level this year but is nowhere near the highs of late 2017, when market cap rose to more than four times these levels.

Big moves and double-digit gains were had for a number of other crypto assets including Litecoin, Binance Coin, Tron, IOTA and Monero, many of which also reached their highest prices this year. Ethereum, which has been rather lackluster recently, did not fare so well with a gain of only 5% or so taking prices to around $150 for the smart contract platform.

This year cryptocurrency markets have increased by 28%, with Bitcoin itself adding around 25%. Daily trade volume is another indicator that a return of the bulls may be imminent. Today it reached a high of over $45 billion, which has not been seen since the peak trading times of January 2018.

It may be too early to tell if this is a real longer-term trend reversal or yet one more volatility blip before another major correction. However, one thing remains certain. The mood among crypto investors and traders today was the best it has been for months.