Crypto leader has soared 193% year to date
A day after reaching the $10,000 mark for the first time in more than a year, the price of bitcoin briefly surged above $11,000 on Saturday.
Bitcoin BTCUSD, +2.53% shot up 7%, topping $11,100 in Saturday morning trading, according to CoinDesk, its highest level since March 2018. The price fell about $500 in the afternoon, then bounced back again, and was last around $10,900 as of 10:30 p.m. Eastern.
It was the third price milestone in a week, after the world’s largest cryptocurrency topped the $9,000 level for the first time in 13 months last Sunday.
Bitcoin’s price is up 193% year to date, with most of the gain coming in the past three months.
Last week, one bitcoin analyst predicted that prices could hit $40,000 “in a few months” now that the $10,000 level had been cracked. “Bottom line: Crypto winter looks over,” Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee said.
After topping out above $19,000 in December 2017, bitcoin prices sank to as low as $3,122 in December 2018.
As of Saturday evening, bitcoin’s market cap sat at nearly $188 billion, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
Bitcoin’s recent surge has boosted competing cryptocurrencies as well, with ethereum ETHUSD, +3.47% rising 20% in the past month and litecoin LTCUSD, +0.28% up 37% in that time. The sector has also been helped by Facebook Inc.’s FB, +0.85% unveiling last week of its upcoming digital currency Libra, which some analysts say could take crypto to the masses.