Bitcoin has bounced back to over the $10,000 level after briefly plunging to a 2018-low of around $6,000 last Tuesday.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $10,052.65 (22:51 UTC), up by about 6.06% ($574.81) from its Thursday opening price of $9,477.84. The cryptocurrency has a market cap of approximately $0.17 trillion.
Other cryptocurrencies including ethereum, ripple, bitcoin cash and litecoin were also higher Thursday.
Some market analysts have said that “fear of missing out” is back in the markets, with crypto investors waiting for a rally to jump back into.
Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, told CNBC in a phone interview:
“FOMO (fear of missing out) is back in the markets.
“Crypto investors have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for a rally. Yesterday it was litecoin which had a clean break out from its resistance levels and investors jumped on and are still riding it today.”
Litecoin, which came out in 2011, is very similar to Bitcoin. However, Litecoin is much faster.
Fundstrat Global Advisors’ Tom Lee told CNBC that he expects bitcoin to reach $20,000 in mid-2018 and reach $25,000 by the end of the year, despite a number of bankers and prominent business leaders expressing skepticism about the cryptocurrency. Last week the head of the World Bank dubbed bitcoin a “Ponzi scheme”, while Charles Munger, the vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said that he believes the bitcoin craze to be “totally asinine”.
Video – What are Cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies are electronic forms of money, i.e., digital money. Their creators say that the encryption makes them ultra-secure and virtually impossible to counterfeit. Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency in circulation today.