The latest data shows that Bitcoin is in its longest buying streak in six months. Experts say that the coin could continue to see rising prices following last year’s brutal 74 percent decline.

New Year and Renewed Optimism

Despite many predicting the demise of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin has continued growing. Jameson Lopp, the creator of Satoshi.info and CTO of Casa Hodl, found that by the numbers, the Bitcoin protocol had expanded in almost every metric.

And now, the latest data suggests that 2019 could be a year traders can look forward to.

According to Bloomberg, the GTI Vera Convergence Divergence indicator is suggesting bitcoin is in its longest buying streak in six months. This means that if the buying pressure continues as it has over the past two weeks, then bitcoin could see a sustained increase in prices.

The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index also reported that a “buy streak” has arisen for ether, the second largest crypto by market capitalization. The index was up as much as 10 percent on Jan. 2, the report said, with ether rising more than 11 percent at the time.

Mati Greenspan, the senior market analyst at eToro in Tel Aviv, said that traders usually buy low and sell high:

“So if we are going by technical analysis we can very easily see on the chart that we are much closer to the bottom than we are to the top,” he explained.

Booming Industry Built Around Crypto

According to Greenspan, one of the clearest indicators of Bitcoin’s bright year ahead is the industries built around it. He said that companies involved in Bitcoin and blockchain are hiring at a “rapid rate,” with new projects coming online every day.

This has also affected Ethereum, which is up more than 80 percent since mid-December when it hit an all-time low. Most cryptocurrency prices, ether included, are closely tied to bitcoin’s performance. That said, ether’s price spike on Jan. 2 might have been a consequence of the end of year selling related to booking taxable losses.

Mike McGlone, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said that the reduction of tax-related selling is a good reason for the bounce. He also noted that the duration of that bounce is something to keep an eye on, as last year’s bear market will most likely resume, he said.

The vibrant industry can be interpreted as a sign that people are getting more involved in the market, which could mean good news for Bitcoin, whose value depreciated 74 percent in 2018. For 2019, it’s possible that the maturing industry could bring Bitcoin out of its trough.

Bitcoin $8,587.06 0.26% Bitcoin, currently ranked #1 by market cap, is up 0.26% over the past 24 hours. BTC has a market cap of $152.3B with a 24 hour volume of $22.06B. Bitcoin Price Chart Source: BTCUSD Chart by TradingView