One word can describe the recent bout of Bitcoin (BTC) price action: wow. In the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has experienced a rally seemingly not seen since late-2017, when hype drove prices to new highs day in, day out. As of the time of writing this, Bitcoin sits, according to Coin Market Cap, at $10,750, up 10% in the past 24 hours — a monumental gain which mostly came to fruition within the past four hours.
Save for Ethereum, which itself is up 9% in the past day, altcoins have been suffering. In fact, BTC dominance has risen to 59%, catalyzed by a relative sell-off in non-BTC and non-ETH digital assets. In other words, all eyes are on Bitcoin right now.
He Called The Bitcoin Boom
Earlier this year, $10,000 seemed like an eternity away. In January, Bitcoin was wallowing under $4,200, continually failing to break out. This lack of positive price action led many to declare that the cryptocurrency was dead, with some even calling for the asset to dwindle to $0 with time.
Amid this dreary outlook, Arthur Hayes, the chief executive of BitMEX, took to his outlets to convey some surprisingly positive sentiment. Per previous reports from Ethereum World News, the Bitcoin bull wrote in a March edition of “Crypto Trader Digest”, a profanity-ridden newsletter that the executive releases once every month or so, that he expected BTC to rally. He wrote:
“All is not lost; nothing goes up or down in a straight line. 2019 will be boring, but green shoots will appear towards year-end.”
In the newsletter, Hayes added that while the 2019 chop will “be intense”, the markets will claw back to $10,000 with time. $10,000, according to the BitMEX chief is a “very significant psychological barrier… it’s a nice round sexy number.” And indeed the markets clawed back, with BTC slowly grinding up from $4,000 to $10,000 over the past two and a half months.
It is important to note that the rally came earlier than Hayes expected, meaning that he is only half right. But, when it comes to industry predictions, this, coupled with one he made in 2018 calling for a sub-$5,000 Bitcoin bottom, are some of the best seen.
So… what exactly happens next? According to a number of traders, a move higher, past $10,700, is entirely possible. Gemini’s Tyler Winklevoss, for instance, recently wrote that once Bitcoin passes $10,000, $15,000 will fall shortly after.
Daniel Mayovskiy Via Unsplash
