Bitcoin price rises after horror start to the year

After a less than ideal start to the year, the digital coin might finally be headed out of its slump following a strong 24 hours.

After a less than ideal start to the year, bitcoin might be headed out of its slump, according to some predictions.

Over the last 24 hours, the cryptocurrency rose by 2.5 per cent to push above $US43,000 ($A59,600) after weeks stuck at the $US40,000 ($A55,000) price point.

BTC’s 24-hour high stood at $US43,413.02 ($A60,183.04).

At time of writing, it was trading slightly lower, at $US42,607 ($A59,065).

The roughly $3000 jump is great news for bitcoin investors, with the blockchain shedding value since its all-time high on November 10 at just under $US69,000 ($A95,000).

Since then, it’s lost nearly 40 per cent of its worth.

However, bitcoin’s rally signals good news on the way.

After a less than ideal start to the year, bitcoin might be headed out of its slump following a strong 24 hours.

CoinDesk’s Damanick Dantes wrote: “A decisive break above $US43,000 could signal a positive trend shift.”

He also said the downward trend could be “short-term” if gains like today continued.

Bitcoin’s current price could be a strong “support level” for the cryptocurrency – which means demand could pick up because the lower price is attractive to buyers but not so high that sellers will dump their tokens.

Over the past two weeks, the blockchain has been stuck on around $US40,000 ($A55,000).

The coin has not performed well over the last three months, with its 100-day moving average “sloping downwards”.

Cryptocurrency has been struggling to make major gains over the past two months.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is certainly bullish about the digital coin’s future.

Last year, he made bitcoin legal tender in the South American country. On Friday, he started offering bitcoin-backed loans for small businesses.

He said four million citizens had already got behind his push for cryptocurrency.

4 million users!

*Total population: 6.5 million (including people under 18 that are still not allowed to use the app).

We have the receipts👇🏼#BTChttps://t.co/y3jvEdOtex

— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) January 19, 2022

Bitcoin has so far defied predictions, with one expert expecting it to hit a six-figure price point in the first quarter of 2022.

Speaking to news.com.au last week, Greg Rubin, head of trading at Aussie firm Global Prime, predicted bitcoin would hit just $US10,000 ($A13,800) next year.

The investing expert reckons bitcoin has one more bull run left in it before it stays at a low price for a long time.

He estimates the top-ranked coin will hit between $US114,000 ($A158,000) to $US130,000 ($A180,000) in the first quarter of next year.

However, after that, prices would drop dramatically, where they would stay until the next surge.

“Looking at the scale of probabilities, it seems the most likely end to the bull run that kicked off in 2020 will be next year,” he told news.com.au.

He predicted bitcoin’s price would plunge to the $US10,000-$US20,000 ($A13,000-$A27,000) mark, a drop of around 70 per cent, where it would remain for some time.

“When the volatility dies down, [bitcoin] will meander on low volume for years,” he forecast.