Bitcoin's Breach of $9,000 Heartens Battered Crypto Bulls

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin breached $9,000 for the first time in a month Monday and that’s emboldening advocates of the largest cryptocurrency.

"The crypto space is still in its infancy,” said John Spallanzani, a portfolio manager at Miller Value Partners in Baltimore. “The weak will be exposed and the strong will prosper."

Bitcoin has rallied about 30 percent so far this month, putting it on pace for its best April since 2013. That’s helping to soften the blow from the more than 50 percent first-quarter loss that followed last year’s 1,400 percent gain.

Traders have cited a range of reasons for the recent two-week rally, from an end of selling by investors needing to raise cash for taxes to optimism that U.S. regulators will work to shape guidelines that will allow digital currencies to flourish.

The road ahead may be a bit more rocky, said Joe Van Hecke, managing partner at Chicago-based Grace Hall Trading LLC. There’s a good chance the price will be either around the $7,000 or $11,000 level in the next 30 days, he said.

"We’ve just come through this pretty grim period with Bitcoin taking a pretty massive hit from potential government regulation, Chinese New Year and tax day in the U.S.," Van Hecke said. "We’ve got a really bullish trend here. As long as the news on Bitcoin stays relatively quiet, we can have a nice move up past $10,000."

To contact the reporter on this story: Janine Wolf in New York at jwolf71@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Andrew Dunn

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