Bitcoin Price Climbs $400 In 20 Minutes to Reach 2-Week High

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has jumped 6.6 percent, pushing prices above $6,600 for the first time in weeks. At 01:00 UTC, just after Tuesday’s close, the cryptocurrency leapt $428 over the course of 20 minutes to cross the threshold for the first time since July 24, according to CoinDesk price data. Bitcoin was last seen trading at $6,750, marking roughly a 6.6 percent increase since the day’s open.

At press time, bitcoin is gaining momentum, having stalled briefly at around $6,750 before crossing $6,800. Indeed, the spike in price could be attributed to investor sentiment in lieu of the fresh bitcoin ETF proposals, set to be decided upon on later this week. The decision could be a defining moment for cryptocurrency in 2018, whereby a denial sends the price lower, while an approval brings additional liquidity from institutional investors. Either way, the total market rose by a total of $11 billion in one hour as a large injection of capital entered the market seeking bitcoin amidst the move. At press time, the total value of all cryptocurrencies was $221 billion, CoinMarketCap data shows.

Early indications suggest that the price action, which came during a period of relatively-low trading volume in the cryptocurrency markets, may not be quite organic. That’s because it occurred at nearly the exact moment that BitMEX, a leveraged cryptocurrency trading platform that handles billions of dollars worth of contracts daily, went offline for scheduled maintenance. As of the time of writing, BitMEX was beginning to resume services, though it had not yet re-enabled trading. Consequently, it remains to be seen whether the market will sustain these gains throughout the early morning hours.