Yesterday we noted how the parabolic rise in Bitcoins lately looks a lot like the gold bull market on a chart.

The virtual currency has taken a wild upward turn in just the last 48 hours.

On Monday, Bitcoins were trading around $35. Today, they're up to $49. That's a 40 percent advance.

The chart below shows the surge (click to enlarge):

bitcoincharts.com

This is actually part of a larger surge in the currency since January. The three-month chart below shows that just two months ago, Bitcoins were trading below $15:

bitcoincharts.com

Nick Colas, Chief Market Strategist at ConvergEx Group, told us that the surge this week may be related to a key step the virtual currency just took toward going mainstream. Click here for details on our conversation with Colas >

(HT: @binarybits)