The price of bitcoin has levelled off following wild market swings over the last few days, though experts predict more volatility for the cryptocurrency.

It is currently trading at around $9,300 (£7,200), having dropped below $7,500 last week amid questions over Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project and reports that quantum computers could pose a threat to bitcoin. This dip was shortly followed by a major price surge that saw bitcoin briefly reach above $10,000 over the weekend.

Despite the price turmoil over the last week bitcoin has managed to avoid the so-called Death Cross – a market pattern that takes place when the 50-day moving average falls below the 200-day moving average.

Prominent cryptocurrency analyst Nigel Green, who is the chief executive of the deVere Group financial advisory firm, believes bitcoin will experience more gains and hit $12,000 before the end of the year – so long as it is able to stay above the key support level of $8,500 this week.

“Bitcoin has registered some impressive gains over the last 48 hours after being in a lull period in recent weeks,” Mr Green told The Independent. “The $8,500 support has previously acted as a crucial support for bitcoin. I believe that if bitcoin traders can keep the price above this over the next week, the world’s dominant cryptocurrency will experience a breakout.”

Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash REUTERS Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters

Other market analysts claim that geopolitical issues – such as Brexit and the escalating trade war between the US and China – could see investors turn to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies due to uncertainty in traditional markets.

The recent gains could also serve to prompt even more investment, as traders seek to make a quick profit from bitcoin’s sudden good fortune.

“After the quick push higher there will be profit taking today but the overall change in sentiment is very positive,” said Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of cryptocurrency firm Luno, who added that there did not appear to be one answer as to why bitcoin experienced such huge gains.

Some attributed bitcoin’s latest price rise to comments reportedly made by Chinese leader President Xi Jinping. Speaking at the Political Bureau of the Central Committee last week, President Xi described bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology as an “important breakthrough” and said more should be done to encourage its development.

He added that China should “seize the opportunity” offered by blockchain technology and accelerate its development.