Bitcoin (BTC) passed $7,200 a second time on Dec. 19 as previous bearish moves gave way to a return to higher levels.

Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360

BTC shows signs of a bullish comeback

Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets showed BTC/USD holding ground recovered above the $7,000 mark late on Wednesday. At press time, the pair traded at around $7,100 after hitting highs of $7,345, marking 24-hour gains of almost 8%.

Bitcoin 1-day price chart. Source: Coin360

With sentiment notoriously volatile this week, Bitcoin’s progress has provided a welcome cause for broader optimism among traders and analysts.

In his latest update to Twitter followers, regular Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe weighed the potential for further short-term gains.

“Earlier today everyone is feared to buy in, given red candles and $3K charts + overall bearish sentiment. Now everyone is rushing to buy back in, as the price is up $750 since the low,” he summarized as the uptick kicked in.

Zooming out, stalwart Bitcoin bulls showed no sign of revising their enthusiastic view of the coming year and beyond.

In an interview with crypto media network BlockTV, entrepreneur Tim Draper doubled down once again on his prediction that the Bitcoin price would pass $250,000 by 2022.

More than that, the serial investor and Tezos (XTZ) sponsor said the sky-high levels could appear as soon as the end of 2020 — just half a year after Bitcoin’s block reward halving event in May.

“If you run a technical analysis, it looks like it’ll be something like six months after the halving that we will cross $250,000 per Bitcoin,” he said.

Draper noted that at current levels, Bitcoin is “where it should be” according to such technical analysis. As Cointelegraph reported, the popular Stock-to-Flow model for Bitcoin price forecasting puts BTC/USD at an average $8,200 before the halving.

Bitcoin dominance rises 2% recent days

Altcoin markets meanwhile reacted favorably to Bitcoin’s gains, with the top twenty by market cap awash with green on Thursday.

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, saw a daily improvement of 2.1%, despite various factors coalescing to produce warnings of fresh selling pressure.

Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Others behaved similarly, with Cosmos (ATOM) nonetheless leading the pack on 9.1% gains.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap was $190 billion, with Bitcoin’s share at 68.3% — 0.6% higher than the day before. In the past seven days, Bitcoin dominance has increased by over 2%.