© Reuters. Bitcoin Prices traded $100 shy from all-time highs on Wednesday

Investing.com – Bitcoin prices recovered from early session losses to trade close to all-time highs on Wednesday, as digital currency seeks break above $5,000 for the first time in its nine-year history.

On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, rose to $4875.2 up $100.4, or 2.10%. Bitcoin is just shy of its recent peak of $4,969 with a market cap of about $81 billion.

The sharp rally in Bitcoin comes a month after China clamped down on bitcoin related activity, ordering domestic bitcoin exchanges to cease operations.

In other cryptocurrency news, fell 1.41%, to $312.53, while , the second largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, added 1.36% to $303.52.

Investors are closely monitoring ethereum ahead of the upcoming Byzantium hard fork, the first iteration of the long-awaited Metropolis upgrade – expected October 16.

The market cap of both and is well below that of Bitcoin at about $5 billion and $29 billion, respectively.