Bitcoin (BTC) finally hit $9,500 on May 7, beating expectations and giving traders and investors a real reason to be bullish.
Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360
BTC knocks on the door of $10,000
Data from Cointelegraph Markets and CoinMarketCap tracked BTC/USD as it passed the seminal $9,500 barrier on Thursday — its highest price since February 24.
After spending the week building support in the mid $8,000 range, Bitcoin saw a dramatic surge, regaining $9,000 and going on to hit local highs of $9,630 at press time.
Bitcoin 1-day chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
Weekly gains for Bitcoin investors topped out at 9.2%, with year-to-date performance, already far in excess of gold or other macro assets, at 34%.
10-month downtrend over?
As Cointelegraph reported, the past two weeks have been marked by Bitcoin decoupling from stock markets, challenging years-old habits to strike out on its own. At the same time, misgivings remain about the strength of the current market.
$9,500 has yet to cement itself as a support level, given that the area forms major resistance as markets near five figures after an almost three-month absence.
Nonetheless, analysts were turning positive, with Cointelegraph Markets’ Keith Wareing noting that Bitcoin had now broken out of a longer 10-month downtrend.