Bitcoin smashes through $60,000 with conviction

BITCOIN's relentless drive upwards has seen the flagship cryptocurrency power its way through the $60k mark and continue a steady climb as it holds altitude above $60,150.

Only 24-hours ago, Bitcoin had come to rest almost kissing the underbelly of $57,000. However, another sudden push early this morning saw momentum build towards the key figure before the US had even considered breakfast.

The US waking up is often a trigger for something to happen in the crypto markets, but with the strength of momentum building from $60k it would seem hard to imagine US traders putting the brakes on. Or would it? The often incalculable volatility of crypto can be every bit as surprising is it is unpredictable.

Analysts are pointing to the sheer amount of volume being thrown in to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds as the main driver of what has been a quite dramatic bull run.

BTC now has a 56% market share and a total market cap of $1.2 trillion.

However, 24-hour trading volume may trigger some question marks over the speed of the price rise - at $50.8 billion that's down by seven per cent over 24-hours, and not quite tallying with the current price picture.

There is plenty of optimism around, though. And you'll find no shortage of crypto Nostradamus' out there willing to bet that Bitcoin will, very shortly, break its all-time high of $64,899 set in April 2021.