Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies traded near a one-year high on Friday as their largest component, Bitcoin, continued an upward drive, sparking new speculation that it would soon hit $10,000 and beyond.
Cryptocurrencies traded higher, with the total coin market capitalization of $302.00 billion by 11:35 PM ET (15:35 GMT), compared to $292.99 billion a day earlier. Total market cap had not topped $300 billion since July 2018.
Bitcoin gained 4.5% to $9,801.5 on the Investing.com Index, extending weekly gains to 17.4%.
Even though markets were abuzz with a fixation on the $9,000 mark for Bitcoin just last week, a close above that level on Monday quickly spurred speculation of a further rally. Excluding a nearly $300 correction on Tuesday, the largest digital coin by market cap climbed every day since June 12 for a now 10-day run that has moved from $7,888 to nearly $9,900 at Friday’s intraday high.
The rapid rise has the crypto sector speculating of an imminent move higher to the next psychological level of $10,000.
Thomas Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, went even further on Thursday to say that the $10,000-mark would be just a blip on the screen as Bitcoin extends the current rally even farther.
For context, Lee is a long-time crypto bull who told CNBC back in April when Bitcoin was closer to $5,000 that the “crypto winter” was over and the largest digital currency would likely reach new all-time highs by 2020.
Lee said that Bitcoin was different than other assets that needed a “new high” to confirm a break out.
He said $10,000 was “FOMO”, implying the level was when traders would undergo the “fear of missing out”, bringing a wave of buyers that would drive prices even higher.
Tyler Winkelvoss, co-founder and chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and principal of Winkelvoss Capital, expressed a similar idea on Wednesday: “If you Bitcoin breaks $10,000, you can bet it’s going to break $15,000.”
In other cryptocurrency trading, Ethereum jumped 5.6% to $284.73, up 11.4% on the week. XRP rose 2.7% to $0.43805, rising 10.9% in the last seven days, while Litecoin traded up 1.4% at $136.68, on track for weekly gains of 5.7%.