Bitcoin breaks $50,000 as magic Monday gives cryptocurrencies a green start to the week
Bitcoin has finally done what it had bean threatening to do for days and push through the $50,000 barrier for the first time since mid-May.
The performance of the flagship cryptocurrency has delivered a shot in the arm to its stablemates too, with Ethereum trading above $3,300 and Cardano – August’s stand-out performer – discovering new heights at $2.80.
Bitcoin had been on a remarkable trajectory when it first pierced $50k in March before going to an all-time high of $64,899 on April 14.
There followed a numbing slump when Elon Musk – whose news that Tesla would accept BTC as payment sent the markets flying – declared environmental concerns over the energy used to mine Bitcoin had forced a u-turn.
READ MORE: Elon Musk rocks Bitcoin with Tesla announcement
The leading cryptocurrency fell into a tailspin which saw it lose altitude, eventually down to $29,796 a month ago. As is so often the case, nearly all digital assets followed suit.
Ethereum moved down from $4,384 to $1,786, while highly-fancied Cardano let $2.30 slip to $1.06 – all in the same period.
This latest rally began overnight as buying volume kicked in and pushed market prices up in the early hours of this morning. A set of steady increments of $300 managed to nudge Bitcoin away from a robust recent resistance line around $49,300.
A key performance indicator that analysts will now be watching closely is trading volume – something which had been lacking of late.
If that is maintained, it could be viewed as a signal that cryptocurrencies are ready to pick up where things left off before Tesla’s mischief-maker-in-chief stuck his oar in.