Bitcoin price: could cryptocurrency surge herald a bull run?

Cryptocurrency experts are predicting that bitcoin may be heading for a bull run, after a price surge this morning took values to their highest levels in four months.

The digital coin’s value rose by around 14% overnight to around $4,700 (£3,600), the highest figure recorded since late November, according to ranking site CoinMarketCap.

Luxembourg-based exchange Bitstamp saw the biggest bitcoin gains, with prices rising by 20% to briefly touch the $5,000 (£3,826) mark, says Reuters.

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Values had settled at around $4,670 (£3,575) per coin as of 10am UK time today, the largest 24-hour gain since April last year, the news site adds.

Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at trading platform eToro, told US broadcaster CNBC that “bitcoin’s break above $4,200 this morning was critical, as the market had been watching that level for a while”.

The reason for the sudden surge in value is not clear, but Greenspan believes that a number of traders placed automatic orders at the $4,200 mark. Once values crept past the threshold, a flood of orders were initiated - bumping up the cryptocurrency’s price.

Bitcoin investors have seen “three consecutive months” of gains that have “more momentum in terms of price action” than the last three months of 2018, reports Forbes.

The upswing could herald a bull run, with continuing price hikes last seen when the digital currency reached its all-time high of nearly $20,000 (£15,300) in December 2017, the news site says.

However, eToro senior account manager Simon Peters told The Independent that investors should “hold their horses” before celebrating their potential windfalls.

Only when values stay above the $4,200 mark can “people perhaps start to turn bullish for the long-term”, Peters said.