Bitcoin abruptly hit $19,000 on November 24 as lower levels from Monday gave way to fresh gains.
Data from price trackers including Bitcointicker and TradingView showed BTC/USD ascending through the $18,000 range to add $500 in an hour during Tuesday trading.
The move is significant, marking Bitcoin’s highest price since December 18, 2017 — the height of its record-breaking bull run to $20,000. It follows a day of mixed performance, with $18,000 holding as support.
At press time, BTC/USD had put in highs of $19,200 on popular exchange Bitstamp before lingering around $100 lower.
Bitcoin sees “serious buying volume”
Reacting to the latest major price hurdle, proponents shifted attention away from short-term gains, arguing that the “real” phase of the current bull cycle had not even started yet.
For Bobby Lee, ex-CEO of cryptocurrency exchange BTCC and founder of cryptocurrency storage solution Ballet, beating the $20,000 all-time high would prove to be the watershed. That moment was just 3% away on Tuesday.
“It took quite a bit (of time and money) to break the $19k barrier. I didn’t expect it to happen until December or January 2021. Looks like there is some serious buying volume for #Bitcoin!” he tweeted.
“Once we get past $20k, then we start the bull market!”
As Modern Consensus reported, that perspective is shared by analyst PlanB, who gave a rough estimate of January 2021 as the start of more intense upside for Bitcoin.
Others noted that the selling pressure which had accumulated just below $19,000 in the event proved no match for the bulls, with Bitcoin overcoming resistance in a matter of minutes after climbing from lows of $18,540.
Altcoins return from the abyss
Amid Bitcoin’s success, altcoins also continued their newfound bullishness on the day, led by Stellar (XLM) and Ripple’s token, XRP.
XRP/USD saw dramatic upside on Monday, hitting $0.92 before diving 30% when major exchange Coinbase began suffering outages. XLM, which traditionally follows XRP in bull markets, put in 24-hour gains of nearly 50%, taking it above $0.16.
“From here on, at least in a bull market, the pushes from altcoins will only be higher and higher and higher,” trader Michaël van de Poppe summarized to Twitter followers on Tuesday.
“Buy higher timeframe (support/ resistance) flips, hold until you start to feel emotions, and sell.”
The overall cryptocurrency market cap stood at $567 billion at press time, its highest since mid-January 2018 when altcoins saw their all-time highs. Versus that point, even the biggest risers remained far from their peaks, notably contrasting with Bitcoin.
Looking forward, analyst Alex Krueger highlighted the changing regulatory scene as a major factor which could shape the longevity of an altcoin renaissance.
“I expect bitcoin-alts correlations to break sharply again in the months around a bitcoin ETF launch, whenever that may be (thinking 1-2 years),” he explained at the start of the week.
“Time will offer clarity. The composition of the SEC commision and upcoming Biden appointment are crucial.”
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