Investing.com -- Bitcoin held above the key $8,000 level on Thursday and looked to set resume its weekly winning streak following a slump last week.
Bitcoin rose 0.40% to $8,180, to remain within touching distance of its session high of $8,208. For now, staying above the $8,000 remains key for a push higher, analysts said.
"The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency surged to the upside on Wednesday and cleared the key $8,000 resistance level - this could indicate that Bitcoin is on the verge of the next bull run,” said Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group.
Green is not the only talking up the prospect of further gains for the popular currency. Others highlight that a key bitcoin indicator is signalling a long-term rally could be in the offering.
The 50-candle moving average on the three-day chart of bitcoin is trending north and could soon cross above the 100-candle, confirming a bullish crossover – the first since October 2015, according to Coindesk market reporter Omkar Godbole.
While the bullish indicator tends to lag prices, as moving average are backward-looking measure, it does warrant attention, Godbole added. The last time this indicator rose to fore, bitcoin embarked on a 2.3-year long rally.
Bitcoin market cap, often used to gauge demand, rose to $145 billion up from about $142 a day earlier, suggesting that traders are seemingly reluctant to pull funds.
Other cryptos were mostly higher; XRP/USD rose 0.8% to $0.40158, ETH/USD added 1.69% to $260.83 and LTC/USD slipped 2.74% to $133.64.