Bitcoin prices jumped on Wednesday, trading back above $4,000 and putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best session in more than three weeks.
In early afternoon trade, one bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.20% was changing hands at $4,027.04.80, up 2.3% since Tuesday’s level at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The digital currency is set to book its best session since March 5, when it gained 3.6%.
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What are analysts saying
“We can’t go from [crypto] winter to summer in a few days, probably not even in a few weeks,” wrote Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro. “Spring is generally a time of volatility where hot and cold often surprise us. Though bitcoin has yet to snap the bear market, I do believe that crypto winter is now over and we are entering spring.”
The crypto winter is how industry pundits describe the prolonged bear market of 2018 and into 2019.
Read: This Canadian crypto trader sent $75,000 bitcoin to Quadriga’s exchange—then it went bust
Altcoins and futures
Altcoins — the group of more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin — were moving higher on Wednesday. Ether, ETHUSD, +0.61% gained 3.2% to $137.42, Litecoin LTCUSD, +0.28% rose 4.7% to $60.59, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, +0.96% was the best-performing major altcoin, trading higher by 6% to $165.40 and XRP XRPUSD, +0.09% added 2.6% to 31 cents.
The broad-based rally in digital currencies has added more than $4 billion to the total value of all cryptocurrencies, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
After logging back-to-back losing sessions to start the week, bitcoin futures closed sharply higher on Wednesday. The Cboe April contract XBTJ9, +0.13% gained 2.6% to $4,000 and the CME March contract BTCH9, +0.12% added 2.4% to $4,000.
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