Bitcoin has maintained a price surge that started on April Fool’s Day, reaching new yearly highs over the weekend in what many believe may indicate a long-term bull run.

The cryptocurrency broke through the $5,000 mark on Tuesday, its highest level since November, and managed to maintain prices in that vicinity — $4,900 to $5,100 — before climbing again on Sunday. As of 10:15 p.m EDT, bitcoin was trading at $5,320.13, up 5 percent over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin enthusiasts popularized the term of “to the moon” to describe price increases. But so far it may more be that bitcoin is heading into a slightly more modest low Earth orbit, the latter indicative of bitcoin’s price relative to its highs at the end of 2017.

Not unlike a rocket blasting into space, bitcoin will face resistance levels as it continues to climb higher. One analyst on Twitter suggested that bitcoin’s next resistance levels — an upper price level for a security that is repeatedly reached but not exceeded because of resistance from the market — will come at $5,500, $5,700, $6,800 and $8,400.

$BTC
Quick thoughts

-Supports @ $4.7k & $4.3k
-Resistances @ $5.5k, $5.7k, $6.6k,$8.4k

-Confident we touch at least $4.7k again but I see an attempt upwards first

-1wk BB Sqz + 2wk candle breaking above midBB suggests macro move to upper BB on 2wk @ $8.4k due in coming weeks pic.twitter.com/2e4KThdf8r

— Crypto Thies (@KingThies) April 7, 2019

Much of the forward momentum in bitcoin’s price is being credited to increasing volumes, the idea being that the higher demand for bitcoin, the higher its price will be.

Largest 4H volume candle on the Bitwise Spot Volume Index…

SINCE September 15'th 2017!

It was the bounce candle after CHINA FUD.#Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/9L4N1Gs9Sz

— Bitcoin 𝕵ack (@BTC_JackSparrow) April 7, 2019

Despite news that Cboe Global Markets was dropping support for Bitcoin Futures due to a low level of interest, the same can’t be said for Bitcoin Futures from rival exchange CME Group, which saw a record trading day for the contracts on April 4.

CME Bitcoin futures had a record trading day on April 4, hitting an all-time high volume of over 22.5K contracts (112.7K equivalent bitcoin), surpassing previous record of over 18.3K (64.3K equivalent bitcoin) on February 19. More #Bitcoin futures. $BTC_F https://t.co/kWYK203apA pic.twitter.com/CX5nF8dXyv

— CMEGroup (@CMEGroup) April 5, 2019

The upswing in bitcoin’s price has also seen increased interest in other leading cryptocurrencies, with NewsBTC reporting that Bitcoin Cash surged 13% on Sunday. Litecoin rose 10% and Ethereum 3% as well.

The question being asked is whether the current price increase is sustainable. Bitcoin has been here many times before, so its price bottoming out and then increasing again isn’t surprising. But after the record run last time, whether investors will be as enthusiastic this time around is the great unknown.

Image: NASA