Bitcoin's Surge to Almost $8,000 Rekindles Memories of Bubble

Bitcoin jumped to almost $8,000 and didn’t look back, as its longest winning streak since 2013 continued to rekindle the global cryptocurrency market, according to Bloomberg.

Monday’s advance of as much as 26% comes only a few days after the digital asset broke through $6,000 and looks set to boost investor interest in conferences on the technology underlying the biggest crypto asset that are taking place in New York this week. Bitcoin’s latest surge started Saturday, when the two U.S. exchanges carrying futures are closed, making it potentially difficult for short sellers to cover their wagers.

“Bitcoin is acting differently since moving above its 200-day moving average“ and the gains are occurring on strong volume, Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, a noted Bitcoin bull, wrote in an email. Blockchain Week is underway and the Consensus forum is set to start, where people are “expecting a higher-quality conference,“ Lee said.

With fundamental analysts often struggling to explain crypto markets, traders have recently pointed to institutions increasingly embracing digital coins. The likes of Fidelity Investments plans to buy and sell Bitcoin for institutional customers soon, and E*Trade is dipping into the trading space.

Adding to the optimism was speculation Monday that more mainstream companies such as eBay and Whole Foods are about to start accepting cryptocurrency payments. Bakkt, a venture that includes Intercontinental Exchange, said it will begin testing Bitcoin futures in July.

“The largest crypto gathering in the world is going on right now, Consensys, and there’s Bakkt announced their futures product is going to be up and running in July,“ said Travis Kling, founder of the Los Angeles-based crypto hedge fund Ikigai. “Before then there was not a concrete date on when the Bakkt product is going to be launched.“

Bitcoin climbed as high as $7,963, the most since July 2018. Rival coins surged in a broad rally, with Bitcoin Cash up as much as 40%, and Litecoin and Ether both at least 21% higher.

Based on the DVAN Buying Selling Pressure Gauge, the coin is seeing the most buying pressure since the rampant run-up in 2017. In addition, Bitcoin appears prime to retest its previous break of $8000 when it soared to $8500 a coin in July of 2018.