Bitcoin Price Hits $15,000 in Major Surge Upwards

By Tim Copeland

The price of Bitcoin has reached the $15,000 mark, a figure not seen since January 2018—shortly after Bitcoin's epic 2017 bull run. This continued push upwards has put 97% of Bitcoin holders into profit.

It has been a strong few weeks for Bitcoin's price. On September 8, Bitcoin was sitting around the $10,000 mark. Since then, the coin has rocketed upwards, smashing through multiple significant price targets and now reaching the $15,000 figure—up 50%.

Bitcoin stacks. Image: Shutterstock

It has been a good year so far for Bitcoin's price too. Since starting the year at $7,200, the cryptocurrency is now up 108%.

"At $15,000, Bitcoin has broken through every recent resistance level and is creeping up towards all-time highs. This is showing that Bitcoin has really proven itself to institutional investors, and confidence in it as hard money is also at all-time highs," said Artur Sapek, founder of Cryptowatch, a real-time crypto markets platform and subsidiary of Kraken. "As the digitalization of global markets continues, it will be interesting to keep an eye on alts; Bitcoin is probably a leading indicator of this type of confidence."

The price surge has helped Bitcoin to reach a new milestone in the number of days it has stayed above the $10,000 mark. While it occasionally dipped back through it, it has opened and closed the trading day above the price of $10,000 for 100 days now and counting. Even though the price of Bitcoin used to regularly dip below that mark, it now seems a significant distance away from the current value.

“Bitcoin has been on a sustained push through a number of significant price points recently—first $12,000, then $14,000 and now $15,000. Investors place a lot of credence in these so-called ‘resistance levels’, as they are points at which buying or selling activity often occurs,” said Simon Peters, crypto analyst at investment platform eToro.

“Bitcoin bulls have been out in full flow for the last few weeks. With the price climbing and news flow surrounding the cryptoasset continuing to be positive, their patience is finally being rewarded. We might even see the bitcoin naysayers eat their words and join the FOMO crew in the near future,” he added.

It's worth noting that Bitcoin's realized market cap is reaching new highs—suggesting that Bitcoin's value is effectively breaking new highs. Realized cap is a measure of Bitcoin's current market cap that's measured by the amount of Bitcoin moved or sold at each price value. So, if a lot of Bitcoin is moved at a mid price, the realized cap might be higher than when a small amount of Bitcoin is moved at a higher price (as happened during the 2017 bull run).

This means that the total amount of Bitcoin being moved right now, multiplied by its current price, is greater than it was during Bitcoin's 2017 bull run.

A measure of Bitcoin's realized cap. Image: Coin Metrics.

The chart above shows that Bitcoin's realized cap reached a peak at the end of Bitcoin's 2017 bull run. But that peak has crept significantly higher since then. This suggests Bitcoin's price is in a stronger position than ever.

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