Investing.com – Bitcoin swung to its highest in nearly two months as it eyed another leg higher amid signs of renewed interest in cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin rose 4.95% to $9,685.6 on the Bitfinex exchange after hitting an intraday high of $9,779.0, just shy of its March 11 high of 9,894.7.
Bitcoin appeared to be setting up for large move higher as some suggested earlier this week that $9,700 was acting as resistance – trading levels that trigger selling – insisting that a meaningful move above this price level could pave the way for a sharp rally.
The move higher in bitcoin emerged amid reports that Goldman Sachs was on the cusp of opening its bitcoin trading operation.
The Wall Street bank’s first ever "digital assets" division spearheaded by trader Justin Schmidt, reportedly will begin operations within the next few weeks.
Institutional demand is widely seen as a crucial step to legitimise bitcoin as an asset class capable of competing with traditional assets for a space in institutional investors’ portfolios.
Demand for cryptocurrencies has been characterised by the surge uptick in the total crypto market cap as it neared an important $500 billion mark.
The total market cap of cryptocurrencies rose to about $454 billion, at the time of writing, from about $427 billion on Wednesday, supporting a move higher in other large-cap cryptos.
Ripple XRP rose 2.58% to $0.87860 on the Poloniex exchange, while Ethereum rose 10.83% to $765.95.
Bitcoin Cash rose 1.02% to $1501.20, while Litecoin rose 6.95% to $161.00.