Bitcoin price (BTC) is edging closer towards the $10,000 mark

Bitcoin is rising towards the key $10,000 hurdle after a series of sharp declines throughout the start of the year wiped off about half of its market value.

At the time of writing, bitcoin’s price was up 2.13 per cent at $9,680.18, but earlier in the day it rose as high as $9,961, according to Coindesk’s aggregate index.

“Recent price action has been somewhat bullish,” said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at Forex.

“Bitcoin has broken above a key short-term resistance zone in the $9,000-$9,250 range. This area has since turned into a bit of support. For as long as price holds above this area then the short-term bias would remain bullish,” he said.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said rising above the $10,000 mark would be a “significant” milestone for bitcoin, potentially marking an end to the recent sell-off.

“A break back above an important psychological hurdle – a level that only a few weeks ago was regarded as an important support zone – may signal an end to the sell-off in bitcoin, among others, and begin another more promising climb higher,” Erlam said.

Bitcoin first broke through the $10,000 barrier in November last year, and in December it hit its all-time high of nearly $20,000.

However, he cautioned that with bitcoin’s unpredictability, the $10,000 level could also mark the start of a fresh round of selling.

“Whether this happens or not may depend on whether we can see a period of light negative news flow, with January producing a constant stream of it which weighed heavily on cryptocurrencies.”

Read more: This startup is about to make paying with bitcoin loads easier