Once beaten down, bitcoin aficionados are growing louder by the day.

On Tuesday, the best-known digital currency surged through $5,500, trading at a five-month high and homing in on key resistance around $6,000. And as momentum picks up, a closely watched bullish indicator suggests further gains are in sight.

“The technical picture for [bitcoin] is looking increasingly bullish on the daily charts with the fabled bullish ‘golden cross’ slowly coming into play,” said Lukman Otunuga, research analyst in a Tuesday note.

A golden cross occurs when the 50-day moving average crosses above the longer-term 200-day moving average, an infrequent event where short-term momentum overtakes a broader longer-term trend. And in midmorning trade on Tuesday the bullish indicator was hit with the 50-day moving average at $4,489 and the 200-day at $4,478.

In most recent trade a single bitcoin BTCUSD, +1.23% fetched $5,576.99, up 3.6% since late on Monday. The digital currency has gained more than 70% since its cycle low in mid-December.

Bitcoin golden cross

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Adding to the growing sentiment, data compiled by DailyFX show retail traders are becoming more bullish. DailyFX said, 80.9% of retail traders are now long net-long bitcoin.

Additionally, their data shows retail traders are even more bullish some smaller digital currencies, or altcoins, with 97.7% of traders are net-long Ripple’s XRP coin, XRPUSD, -0.19% 92.1% net-long Ether ETHUSD, +2.32% and 92.2% are net-long Litecoin. LTCUSD, +2.36%

However, others say the turnaround goes beyond the fabled golden cross. “Bitcoin’s price is up almost 50% since the start of 2019. Instead of obsessing over the volatile price movements, it is important to stay focused on the underlying fundamentals of the transaction settlement network,” said Anthony Pompliano, founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital, citing the improving hash rate — a measure of bitcoin miners performance — and the continued rise in transactions on the bitcoin blockchain.

“Those that have the patience and discipline to stick around will be rewarded handsomely,” he added.

But the crypto-resurgence has come too late for some. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that SoftBank 9984, -4.51% founder Masayoshi Son lost $130 million on a personal bet on bitcoin. The WSJ said the investment came near the peak of bitcoin in late 2017.

Read:SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son reportedly lost $130 million of his personal fortune with bitcoin