Bitcoin may be turning a corner after a lull that just saw it fall below $25,000 for the first time in three months.
The cryptocurrency hit a two-week high of about $26,700 on Thursday before paring back gains. The coin was trading up about 1%, at $26,500, on Thursday afternoon. The second-most popular cryptocurrency, Ethereum, was up nearly 2% to $1,600.
Bitcoin’s surge comes after investor uneasiness pushed the coin’s price below the $25,000 level earlier this week. Fears that a major crypto selloff from the FTX bankruptcy estate could depress prices pushed Bitcoin to multimonth lows. Those fears now appear to be subsiding, despite FTX receiving court approval to begin offloading its $3.4 billion crypto portfolio on Wednesday.
Crypto-related stocks also rallied on Thursday, with Bitcoin mining companies Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital notching intraday gains of 7% and 2%, respectively. U.S-based crypto exchange Coinbase also jumped just over 3%, while Bitcoin-holding Microstrategy advanced 2.6%.
The Thursday rally stands in stark contrast to a history of monthly setbacks in September for both stocks and Bitcoin. Since 2013, the cryptocurrency has only twice recorded positive monthly returns in September. Bitcoin is still down from the $30,000 level where it held mostly steady for about two months earlier this year.
