Bitcoin trades at 5½-week high near $4,000

   2019-02-19 22:02

Bitcoin prices moved higher on Tuesday, extending a hot streak that has seen the best-known cryptocurrency log four successive winning sessions, and reach a nearly six-week high.

On Tuesday, a single bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.43%  fetched $3,927.90, up 2% since Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern time on the Kraken exchange. The digital currency traded to an intraday high of $3,970.70, its highest level since Jan. 10.



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What are analysts saying

“The cryptocurrency king is on track to secure its first positive month since July 2018,” wrote Naeem Aslam, chief markets analyst at Think Markets U.K.

“With the wind of change blowing, the fundamentals are likely to improve in the coming months for the cryptocurrency space. The hopes are pinned on the improvement of the transaction volume for on-chain transactions. This will attract growth because of a larger number of industries becoming part of this infrastructure,” he said.

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Altcoins and futures

Digital currencies other than bitcoin — commonly known as altcoins — were trading higher on Tuesday. Ether ETHUSD, -0.61% rose 2.4% to $144.71. The currency of the ethereum blockchain has soared more than 20% since Friday’s closing level.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, -1.06% gained 2.7% to $143.30, Litecoin LTCUSD, +0.23% was up 0.9% to $47.50, while XRP XRPUSD, +0.14% added 4.3% to 33 cents.

Bitcoin futures closed higher on Tuesday. The Cboe Global Markets March contract XBTJ9, -1.02%  ended up 10.9% at $3,957.50, and the CME Group February contract BTCG9, -0.89% closed up 10.2% at $3,935.

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