Bitcoin price live: Crypto market nears record high as experts make 2024 predictions

With bitcoin on a roll, several other leading cryptocurrencies are following suit. The combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies listed on CoinMarketCap is now above $2.3 trillion, up 4 per cent over the last 24 hours. As recently as September, it was at $1 trillion.

All of the top 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies are up over the last week, with dogecoin leading the charge with gains of more than 50 per cent. Here’s a snapshot of the crypto market right now, courtesy of CoinMarketCap:

Bitcoin’s recent price rally has seen its market cap rise above $1.23 trillion, putting it on par with Facebook owner Meta, and close to overtaking silver.

The cryptocurrency’s finite supply has often drawn comparisons to gold, with some claiming it can serve as an alternative safe-haven asset in times of economic uncertainty. The most ambitious price predictions therefore stretch to beyond half a million dollars, which would match gold’s market cap of $13.7 trillion.

One key differentiator between the two assets, however, is bitcoin’s volatility. Until that smooths out, it is unlikely bitcoin will be considered as a store of value by non crypto advocates.

Another reason for such a buoyant market at the moment is the impending bitcoin halving, which will see the rewards for mining the cryptocurrency slashed in half.

Taking place roughly every four years, the bitcoin halving has been used by some crypto analysts to explain the quadrennial price cycles that the cryptocurrency hasd experienced over its 15 year history. One of the most vocal proponents of this theory is the pseudonymous dutch analyst PlanB, who has gained millions of followers in recent years for his Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model.

While his predictions can overly optimistic, some have pointed to the latest price rally as confirmation that bitcoin is following this trajectory. It’s worth noting that PlanB also warns that a ‘black swan’ event, like a global economic downturn or crypto exchange collapse, could derail his model.

You can find out more about bitcoin’s halving – which is set to take place on 19 April – in our explainer here:

Bitcoin is trading above $62,000 this morning, marking its highest price since November 2021. It is now less than $7,000 away from its all-time high, which it hit that month, before a sudden correction. So how did we get back here?

There are several reasons behind bitcoin’s recovery, including broader economic factors and an increase in ways for people to invest in the cryptocurrency. But one of the main drivers of the latest rally has been the first ever approval of a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US, bringing billions of dollars of institutional investment to the market.

“In contrast to past bull markets, there is little to no speculative fervour from retail investors,” said Alex Adelman, founder of the crypto app Lolli, told The Independent this week. “Instead, momentum is underpinned by a more mature and calculated approach to bitcoin with an understanding of its strength from the world’s biggest institutional players… Once bitcoin breaks its all-time high, we will see an additional wave of interest in bitcoin from retail investors.”

You can read more about it here:

to The Independent’s live coverage of the crypto market. Bitcoin has shot up more than 20 per cent over the last week and is now within touching distance of its all-time high.

Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and other major cryptocurrencies have also experienced considerable gains, though the biggest price jump has actually come from the meme-inspired token dogecoin, which is up more than 50 per cent over the last seven days.

To help explain why, and to look forward at what might come next, we’ll be bringing you all the latest news, analysis and expert price predictions throughout the day.