Bitcoin climbed more than 10% after market sentiment improved. Getty
Bitcoin prices surged today, breaking out of their previous range and surpassing $3,700 for the first time in more than two weeks.
The digital currency reached $3,702.48 at 11:55 EST, climbing roughly 10% in the space of 24 hours, CoinDesk bitcoin price data reveals.
At this point, the cryptocurrency had reached its highest since January 19, additional CoinDesk figures show.
Leading up to this breakout, bitcoin had been fluctuating mostly between $3,300 and $3,500 since late January.
Right around that time, a measure of the digital currency’s price volatility fell to its lowest level in more than two months.
[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.]
Strengthened Sentiment
While several media outlets have covered today’s bitcoin price rally, identifying a handful of potential causes, they have not spoken to the improvement in market sentiment that has taken place lately.
Joshua Frank, cofounder of cryptocurrency analytics platform TheTIE.io, weighed in on this change, stating that:
“Over the past few days Bitcoin price was very steady with hourly sentiment remaining negative.”
“However, yesterday at around 12pm EST, hourly sentiment quickly moved into positive territory and continued to increase, leading the spike in Bitcoin and the general market.”
He added that sentiment has become “quite strong.”
The chart below helps illustrate the change:
Bitcoin hourly sentiment dataThe TIE
It is worth noting that today’s rally began roughly 24 hours after hourly sentiment turned positive.
“Sentiment can be a predictive measure, and the higher it is, the stronger the signal, so it’s normal for it to precede price movement,” said Frank.
“It continued to increase leading up to and through the price spike, so it both lead and then reinforced the movement.”
Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash and ether.