Bitcoin breaks $60,000 a year after ‘flash crash’ to under $4k

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, broke the $60,000 level today driven by futures and spot trading activity. It’s now returned over 990% to investors in the past year, and 8% in the past day.

Data showed over $490 million worth of “short” positions, or bets against BTC’s rising prices, were liquidation as a result of the price surge.

The move is a revival of sorts for the asset; it fell to under $4,000 on March 12 last year—a day when many questioned if it could ever recover again.

Bitcoin started trading under $56,000 this morning but surged over the $60,000 price level in afternoon trading hours in London. The move coincided with the distribution of stimulus checks in the US—worth $1,400 as an aid in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Some, like popular Bitcoin investor and educator Anthony Pompliano, even tweeted that the new round of stimulus checks would eventually be used up by citizens to buy Bitcoin.

$60,000 bitcoin and stimulus checks hitting this weekend.

Oh my! This should be fun.

— Pomp ? (@APompliano) March 13, 2021

As the below image shows, Bitcoin remains in a strong uptrend for now. It trades over its 21-period exponential moving average, a popular used by traders to determine the direction and strength of trends for any asset. BTC remains in an uptrend since the $49,000 level.

What does the on-chain data say

On-chain data shows a “mostly bullish” environment for the asset at press time. The Concentration metric suggests “whales,” or holders with large amounts of Bitcoin, are accumulating at these prices while Futures markets show a “bullish” sign as well.

The Net Network Growth—a measure of the growth of the underlying network—flashes a bearish (-0.44%) sign as does the number of large transactions (-0.44%), a sign the market could be overheated and see a brief correction.

Meanwhile, the price bump seems to have slowed, for now. Bitcoin saw selling at the $60,600 level and fell to $59,940, before regaining and trading over $60,050 at press time.