It has been a while since we last saw a major Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) price increase, but Tuesday seems to be a big day for crypto traders as BTC jumped over 20% to cross the physiological mark of $5000 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. Other virtual currencies also rose, with Ethereum (available on Coinbase) (ETH) and Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Cash (BCH) climbing around 10%.
Bitcoin (available on Coinbase), the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency by market capitalization, saw a sudden jump of about 17% within 30 minutes on Tuesday, hitting its best level since mid-November 2018.
Although many key industry followers expected the surge in Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) price, the pace of today’s jump has shocked many traders.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) is trading at $4,868, up 15.90%.
There seems to be no justification for such a sudden jump; however, it could be because of a big technical breakout from a closely-watched resistance level of $4,200. As soon as the price moved above this level, we saw big buying activities that lasted for a few minutes. Additionally, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) price moved above the 200-Day Moving Average, often a bullish technical indicator.
Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, chief executive of London-based cryptocurrency firm BCB Group, said that “the move was likely triggered by an algorithmic order worth about $100 million spread across major exchanges – U.S.-based Coinbase and Kraken, and Luxembourg-based Bitstamp.”
“There has been a single order that has been algorithmically-managed across these three venues, of around 20,000 BTC,” he continued.
The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has significantly jumped during the sudden market move today. While yesterday’s market capitalization peaked at $146 billion, today’ it climbed to $163 billion, declining to $160 billion by late morning.