Bitcoin (BTC) has seen eight consecutive days of rising prices and is back above $18,000 for the first time since mid-December.
The cryptocurrency had not recorded such a long winning streak since July 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the past seven days, the price of BTC is up nearly 8% with a gain of 4.1% over the past 24 hours at the time of writing.
Cointelegraph analysts predicted on January 11 that bitcoin could rally to $18,000 and that price movement above it pressured $275 million worth of weekly options that expired on January 13, including $16,500 and above. Low stakes were placed.
Lex Moskowski, CEO of hedge fund Moskowski Capital, tweeted a photo on January 11, showing $86 million worth of bitcoin shorts that were “excitingly smoking.”
The shorts are getting royally smoked.
$86M in the last 4 hours. pic.twitter.com/hNPwn4C53M
— Lex Moskovski (@mskvsk) January 11, 2023
In 2022, the price of BTC dropped by about 65%. The broader crypto market also faced headwinds due to multiple bankruptcies and declines in the space in the same year, including crypto exchange FTX, which was the second largest exchange at the time of bankruptcy.
It seems like #bitcoin We like to remind that it does not care about exchanges, investor letters, open letters and Ponzi schemes: pic.twitter.com/OfmmdWeUvz
— Andrew (@AP_Abacus) January 12, 2023
On January 11, FTX said it had recovered $5 billion in cash and cryptocurrencies, which it could sell to repay its creditors, a move that some say would be if FTX customers were repaid. Could be a bull story.
Yes, I understand this is and always has been the best recovery scenario for customers. I think that making them whole to a large extent is a real possibility; I think we were probably a few weeks away from getting there in November. (America is solvent, everyone should be made perfect.)
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) January 12, 2023
The exchange also received a number of cryptocurrencies, which it says will be difficult to sell because the markets for those assets are illiquid.
Related: From Bernie Madoff to Bankman-Fried: Bitcoin Extremists Validated
However, some have urged caution on the price, saying that a BTC price rally ahead of the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) data release is normal.
never fails. This is the third pre-CPI ramp.
– Bill Noble (@crypto_noble) January 12, 2023
CPI data is due out on January 12 and many expect it to show that inflation is declining and that the Federal Reserve may put the brakes on raising interest rates.
Shares have also seen a rally in price, with the S&P 500 gaining 4% over the past five days, according to Google Finance.
US Treasury yields have also seen a slight decline recently, according to Bloomberg data.
