Bitcoin trades at 5-1/2 week high near $4,000

Story by: Aaron Hankin

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, +2.22%  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.

Read: Stock-index futures edge down ahead of latest U.S.-China trade talks

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.

Read: JPM Coin is not a cryptocurrency, says crypto advocacy group

Altcoins and futures

Digital currencies other than bitcoin — commonly known as altcoins — were trading higher on Tuesday. Ether ETHUSD, +3.34% 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, +3.94% gained 2.7% to $143.30, LitecoinLTCUSD, +1.44% was up 0.9% to $47.50, while XRP XRPUSD, +5.09% added 4.3% to 33 cents.

Bitcoin futures opened sharply higher on Tuesday. The Cboe Global Markets March contract XBTJ9, +11.30%  was up 10.5% at $3,930, and the CME Group February contract BTCG9, +10.38% was up 10.1% at $3,925.

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