Bitcoin surges above $18K to cap 8-day winning streak

The last time Bitcoin saw such a long streak of green candles was July 2021, during the height of the pandemic.

Bitcoin (BTC) has clocked eight straight days of increasing prices and has surged back above $18,000 for the first time since mid-December.

The cryptocurrency hadn’t recorded such a prolonged winning streak since July 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Over the last seven days, the price of BTC has increased nearly 8%, with a 4.1% surge in the last 24 hours at the time of writing.

Related: From Bernie Madoff to Bankman-Fried: Bitcoin maximalists have been validated

Cointelegraph analysts predicted earlier on Jan. 11 that Bitcoin could rally to $18,000 as its upward price movement put pressure on $275 million worth of weekly options expiring Jan. 13, with bets placed at $16,500 and lower.

Hedge fund Moskovski Capital’s CEO, Lex Moskovski, tweeted an image on Jan. 11 showing $86 million worth of Bitcoin shorts were “getting smoked royally.”

Shorts are getting smoked royally.

$86M in the last 4h. pic.twitter.com/hNPwn4C53M

— Lex Moskovski (@mskvsk) January 11, 2023

BTC’s price fell nearly 65% over 2022. The wider crypto market also faced headwinds resulting from numerous bankruptcies and collapses in the space in the same year including crypto exchange FTX, the second-largest exchange at the time of its bankruptcy.

It seems that #Bitcoin likes to remind us that it doesn’t give a shit about exchanges, investor letters, open letters, and ponzi schemes: pic.twitter.com/OfmmdWeUvz

— Andrew (@AP_Abacus) January 12, 2023

On Jan. 11, FTX said it recovered $5 billion in cash and cryptocurrencies which it may sell in order to repay its creditors