After a month of declines, the price of bitcoin is gaining momentum once again. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at $6757.42, up by more than 6% from its bottom last Wednesday. More importantly, this is the first time that the cryptocurrency has passed the $6,700 mark since August 7. Bitcoin fell below $7,000 at the beginning of this month.

Since the start of this year, the cryptocurrency has fallen by more than 70% as bad news and scandals relating to it have piled up. Regulatory uncertainty and critical comments by prominent economists have only added to its problems.

Much like its price, the spate of bad news regarding bitcoin has also reversed in the past few days. The SEC is said to be “reconsidering” its recent rejections of proposals for bitcoin ETFs. According to CFTC data released Friday, bearish bets against bitcoin futures contracts traded on CME and CBOE have reached record lows. (See also: Bitcoin Plunged From $20K Due To Futures: Fed.)

The Start Of A Bull Run?

The increase in bitcoin’s price has led prominent experts to speculate whether this could be the start of a bull trend for the cryptocurrency.

Online publication CoinDesk cited daily bitcoin price volatility as a precursor to a bull run for the cryptocurrency. According to the publication, the difference between bitcoin’s highest and lowest prices in a day was $84, the lowest level since July 9, 2017. "We could be in for a big move in the next few days, possibly on the higher side, as the technicals are biased towards the bulls and the BTC/USD shorts on Bitfinex are near record highs, meaning the cryptocurrency is vulnerable to a short covering rally,” the analyst wrote. (See also: Bitcoin Best Cryptocurrency Bet: Fundstrat's Lee).

Others have cited the rally that succeeded bitcoin’s bottoming out in 2014 as proof of precedent for a similar price action. “It’s all about understanding the economics of bitcoin,” said Simon Dixon, founder of bankofthefuture.com, in an interview on CNBC Crypto Trader. According to him, the halving in bitcoin’s numbers, which occurs every four years, is generally preceded by a “flattening” in its prices. Retail investors jump into crypto markets a year before the actual halving and that leads to a run up in prices, he said. The next scheduled halving of bitcoin’s supply is expected to occur in 2020. Based on Dixon’s theory, bitcoin will have a price surge in 2019. Vinny Lingham, founder of Civic, a crypto startup, said that there might be a 50/50 chance that the current rally might be a precursor to a bottoming out phase. “I am balanced,” he told CNBC Crypto Trader.

Meanwhile, bitcoin’s dominance and trading volumes have continued to increase. The original coin now accounts for 53.3% of all trading volume in cryptocurrency markets. This is good news for bitcoin bulls as it means that traders are moving their funds from altcoins, such as ether and ripple, into bitcoin.

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