Bitcoin’s meteoric gains are continuing unabated, with prices looking like they could pass the psychological milestone of $10,000 today.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization clocked a new lifetime high of $9,9731.51 at 09:00 UTC, as per CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index. That came after blowing past $9,000 over the weekend for the first time – and just over a week after topping $8,000.

As of writing, the bitcoin-U.S. dollar (BTC/USD) exchange rate is trading at $9,630 levels. Going by CoinMarketCap data, BTC has appreciated by 8.24 percent in the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency is up more than 800 percent on a year-to-date basis.

Trading volumes rose to $5.4 billion yesterday, the highest level since Nov. 13 – adding credence to the rally’s sustainability. Further, Google search volumes for the term “bitcoin” have spiked again.

So, the technical chart looks more bullish than ever, with prices likely to soon test $10,000 levels – and perhaps beyond.

4-hour chart

The chart above shows no signs of stress, bar the overbought conditions indicated by the relative strength index (RSI). When above 70.00, the RSI indicates overbought conditions and could yield a minor pullback, although major tops are made usually on the back of bearish divergence (lower highs on RSI and higher highs on price) and not just overbought RSI.

The major moving averages – 50-Ma, 100-MA, and 200-MA – are sloping upwards in favor of the bulls.

View

With the rising trendline (pattern of higher lows on price chart) well and truly intact, bitcoin looks set to test $10,000 today, and may even extend the rally to $10,400 levels as suggested by the bull flag breakout discussed on Nov. 20.

Only a 4-hour close below the rising trendline would signal a short-term top has been set. At press time, the trendline support is seen at $8,570 levels.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase.

Telescope observatory image via Shutterstock