Traders are waking up to a bright and bullish Sunday morning for Bitcoin , its value once again surging.
It has just surpassed $580 on Bitstamp and $565 on BTC-e. This is its second rise of over 10% in recent days. The bulk of the latest run-up has occurred over the past 12 hours and may not be over.
Once again, there aren't any groundbreaking developments to explain the rise. It is possible that we reached a trough in the low 400's as supply met demand and traders saw no reason to push up the price from its post-Gox/China lows. Now, however, we may be experiencing a surge in unmatched demand from genuine Bitcoin usage.
The string of gains has Bitcoiners getting bullish, even euphoric, on forums such as reddit. Memories of the great run-up nearly 6 months ago are evoked; even greater expectations are being seriously discussed. Some are expecting Bitcoin to reach $1000 by the end of the summer. One commenter writes:
"Barry Silbert (SecondMarket) said $32k. Winklevii said $40k. One academic estimated $50k. Chris Dixon (of Andreessen Horowitz) reckons $100k and Wences Casares (Xapo) said $1 million."
The price action seems to be helping altcoins along, but once again not like it used to. Most alts are up by single digits. Overall, their performance during Bitcoin's rally has been unimpressive, with the exception of Darkcoin.
Litecoin has picked up speed as well but is still lagging. After failing to take Bitcoin's lead last week, it gained 8% during Bitcoin's pause 48 hours ago, only to surrender most of those gains. It has since jumped by 8% to trade at $11.65 on BTC-e. At its peak, it hit $11.99.
It is thus once again outpaced by Bitcoin, as reflected in the LTC/BTC price- now 20.7 mBTC. Its decline to this level is simultaneous with Bitcoin's ascent during the past 12 hours. During some wild trading, LTC/BTC briefly dipped below 0.02 BTC, a new low since December's Volatility .
Litecoin has undergone a miserable decline in value since February. The euphoria from its much-hyped addition to Huobi wore off rapidly and it has been in a tailspin ever since. Its troubles in the market may be related to unrest in its community: the coin has struggled to find its identity as a host of competitive alts have emerged, and its mining has been fraught with multiple setbacks.
