Bitcoin's sudden and unexpected price rise may have accidentally been spurred on by an April Fool's joke, analysts have speculated.

An article published on 1 April by online cryptocurrency publication Finance Magnates claimed the US Securities and Exchange Commission had made the monumental decision to approve a bitcoin-based exchange traded fund (ETF).

Such a decision by the SEC would be seen by bitcoin investors as hugely positive for the cryptocurrency – the world's first ETF backed by gold caused a 300 per cent rise in value for the commodity – however the US regulator has consistently failed to make a ruling on the ETF.

Unsurprisingly, Finance Magnates eventually updated its article to reveal that it was an April Fool's joke. But by the time that happened, the surge had already begun.

The bitcoin price shot up by 20 per cent in less than an hour to $5,080 early on 2 April, leading to speculation that the spike may have been caused by rogue bitcoin trading bots.

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So how could this happen? Some traders set up bots to monitor relevant news outlets and social media channels like Twitter for keywords and activity that might indicate a market shift may be about to occur.

If relevant keywords appear – in this case 'bitcoin', 'ETF' and 'approved' – then these bots may autonomously make trades in anticipation of bitcoin's price moving in a positive direction.

The only problem is that the developers of these bot may not have allowed for the possibility that the news is the result of a prank.

"It's about getting there first. In this instance a trading bot cannot tell an April Fool's from a real thing," George McDonaugh, chief executive and co-founder of blockchain investment firm KR1, told The Independent.

"So if you have a system in place to recognise the words 'ETF' and 'approved' to immediately trigger large scale buys, then theoretically this could lead to a big move."

The price of bitcoin is notoriously volatile, making predicting its future value difficult (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The timing of the initial price surge means it is "far-fetched" to attribute it to the article's publication, according to Mr McDonaugh, though this does not rule out the possibility that the April Fool's joke helped fuel the bitcoin price surge.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile and it is difficult to pinpoint price movements to one specific factor, meaning there is a myriad of possible reasons why bitcoin surged in price.

Some analysts speculated the rally could also be the result of bitcoin breaking above $4,200, which was seen as a key testing point for the market as it was previously bitcoin's highest price of 2019.