Bitcoin prices were near $ 19,000 today, after climbing of about $ 17,600 yesterday. (Photo by … [+]
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Bitcoin prices were near $ 19,000 today, moving closer to hitting a fresh climax, always at a time when institutional investors are taking more and more interest in the space.
The world’s largest digital currency by market value reached as much as $ 18,956.34 at about 5:45 pm EST, according to CoinDesk data.
At this point, it was up close to 8% from the recent low of $ 17,593.17 and hit yesterday morning, additional CoinDesk figures show.
Further, the digital asset was trading about 5% below its all-time high of $ 19,920.53 which reached earlier this month.
[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]
Bitcoin has spent much of the past few weeks ranging between $ 18,000 and $ 20,000, and the latest rally took place after the cryptocurrency fell below $ 17,600 yesterday and then went on to climb.
In explaining these latest gains, analysts highlighted the technical support and impact of recent developments involving institutional investors.
Marouane Garcon, managing director of Amulet’s crypto-to-crypto derivatives platform, commented on the digital asset’s latest price movements, describing $ 18,000 as “the right level of support.”
Tim Enneking, managing director of Digital Capital Management, also provided some input, emphasizing:
“There’s a lot of room between $ 13.7k and $ 19.8k with very few technical bullets to determine levels of support and resistance – simply because, historically, the price has spent a considerable amount of time in that range. Therefore, traders naturally look toward numbers ending in many zeros. “
He noted that many of the variations we saw this month have involved bulls and bears pushing the digital asset between price levels such as $ 18,000 and $ 19,000.
The cryptocurrency’s latest price movements have taken place against a backdrop of institutional adoption, and the latest example is the decision of insurance giant MassMutual to buy $ 100 million worth of bitcoin for its portfolio.
To add to this, Ray Dalio, and founder, co-chairman and co-chief investment officer of Bridewater Associates hedge fund, recently made headlines for taking a more optimistic stance on bitcoin.
During a Reddit “ask me anything” session held on December 8, Dalio noted:
“I think bitcoin (and some other digital currencies) over the last ten years have established themselves as interesting alternatives such as gold assets, with similarities and differences to gold and other mobile, restricted wealth stores (unlike real estate) ). ”
John Todaro, TradeBlock’s director of institutional research, described these developments nicely:
“Institutional investors and traders remain open and interested in bitcoin – arguably the most open they have been in the asset’s history, which remains positive.”
Disclosure: I own a small amount of bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether and EOS.