Investing.com - After bitcoin managed to top $11,000 over the weekend, analysts warned that the feverish rally starting at $7,888 on June 11 could be set to run out of steam.
Bitcoin gained 3% to $11,075 on the Investing.com Index by 12:37 PM ET (16:37 GMT) Monday, but remained below the high of $11,361.30 reached over the weekend, its highest level since March 2018.
The recent buzz surrounding Facebook’s launch of digital coin Libra in the first half of 2020 was credited by some as helping spur the buying interest that others likened to the frenzy in 2017 rally. That rally saw the world's largest digital currency rise to record highs of around $20,000 on some exchanges before a steep selloff, which saw it drop to a little more than $3,000.
But Eneko Knorr, founder of digital assets custody service Onyze, objected, saying that “this last run is not backed by more Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) searches nor tweets about bitcoin” in a clear reference to those retail investors who were simply taken in by the hype.
Cameron Winklevoss, founder of Winklevoss Capital Management, defined the bitcoin bear market known as crypto winter as “simply an exercise in patience”.
Thomas Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, had told CNBC back in April when Bitcoin was closer to $5,000 that the “crypto winter” was over and the most recent break above $11,000 seemed to coincide with his forecast last Thursday that the $10,000-mark would be just a blip on the screen to higher levels.
Matt Simpson, technical analyst at City Index, took a more cautious approach after the current rally, saying with "prices looking stretched, we suspect a retracement could be due before its trend continues.”
He noted that the impossibility of ruling out an attempt from bulls to push it to new highs, “but we’d suggest caution at these high levels, given the lack of pullbacks since the June low.”
Cryptocurrencies overall traded higher, with the total coin market capitalization of $330.14 billion by 12:44 PM ET (16:44 GMT), compared to $325.53 billion a day earlier.
Among bitcoin’s closest rivals, Ethereum gained 0.8% to $313.01, XRP fell 1.9% to $0.4668, Bitcoin Cash dropped 1.2% to $475.9, while Litecoin traded down 3.4% at $135.699.