(Yahoo!) -- The ongoing bitcoin price rally has more than enough fuel to retest the all-time high of $20,000, according to Andy Cheung, head of operations at Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx.
Cheung called $20,000 a “conservative prediction,” hinting that most speculators are less likely to exit their long positions now that BTC has already rebounded by more than 180% from its low near $3,120 in just 163 days.
Holding Sentiment Rising
Cheung’s statements closely followed bitcoin’s Monday rally in which the asset established a fresh 2019 high just shy of $9,000. That took bitcoin’s gains this year to more than 140%, including a 120% jump in the last two months.
The profits were reminiscent of some of the most significant benefits seen during the bitcoin price boom in December 2017. Back then, it took the cryptocurrency only 10 days to achieve $20,000 as its all-time high after it closed above $8,300.
But the dynamics surrounding the previous boom are very different from that in the current one.
Q4 2017 saw bitcoin surging close to 219% owing to the infamous ICO mania. People purchased BTC not to hold but to buy tokens issued by then-emerging blockchain startups. When 90% of those firms failed, they likely sold the bitcoins they had crowdfunded and caused the asset to crash by more than 75% ahead of 2018’s close.
Nevertheless, in Q2 2019, investors are purchasing BTC to hold rather than give away for other assets. Diar, an institutional publication, reported in February that the number of bitcoin holders — investors who did not move the cryptocurrency from their hot/cold wallets – was increasing.
Bitcoin Holders are on the rise. | Source: Diar
