Bitcoin traded higher on Friday, looking to register its fourth-consecutive winning session, which would be just the second such streak of 2019.
In Friday trade, a single bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.04% changed hands at $3,890.20, up 0.5% since Thursday’s level at 5 p.m. Eastern time of the Kraken exchange. The cryptocurrency has gained 5.1% during its current win streak.
What are analysts saying
“In Q3/Q4 last year, bitcoin’s price had halted its free fall and consolidated around $6,500, [which] led to a number of people calling the bottom of the bear market. Unfortunately, this was not the bottom and we abruptly saw another 50%+ decrease in price that eventually broke below $3,200,” wrote Anthony Pompliano, founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital.
“Thankfully, sentiment appears to be shifting now. Many fund managers are describing expectations for bitcoin to continue choppy price action in a sideways trend through most of 2019, but they are cautiously becoming more optimistic that the bottom of the bear market is around $3,000.”
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Altcoins and futures
Altcoins, the digital currencies other than bitcoin, were trading lower on Friday, unable to keep up with the No.1 digital currency. Ether, ETHUSD, -0.82% fell 1.2% to $135.87, Litecoin LTCUSD, -1.02% lost 1.2% to $56.10, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, -1.08% was off 1.2% to $128.70 and XRP XRPUSD, -1.47% was down 1.1% at 31 cents.
Bitcoin’s share of the total value of all coins stands at 51.8%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin futures were showing moderate gains in midafternoon Friday trade. The Cboe Global Markets March contract XBTJ9, +0.65% was up 0.7% at $3,890, while the CME Group March contract BTCH9, +0.00% rose 0.4% to 3,885.
Read: The Dow is on the verge of a bullish golden cross, but stock-market analysts aren’t exactly cheering
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