It Looks Like Bitcoin Has Found a New Bottom

(Bloomberg) -- Exactly a year after beginning its crash from close to $20,000, the world's biggest cryptocurrency seems to have found a new bottom.

Bitcoin extended gains for a fifth day on Wednesday, heading for the longest winning streak since September, based on Bitstamp pricing. The increase of more than 20 percent since Friday has carried most of the digital-token market with it.

“The market is extremely oversold by most metrics -- near the most oversold in Bitcoin's history,” said Mike McGlone, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst in New York. McGlone pointed to the token's relative-strength index this week and its “extreme discount” to most moving averages. Even so, he predicts Bitcoin will form a new floor next year that's lower than current prices.

Crypto traders scouring news for supportive developments can find succor in the decision by Binance, one of the world's biggest exchanges, to open 10 crypto-to-fiat trading platforms in 2019 despite this year's selloff in virtual currencies.

“None of our plans changed,” founder and Chief Executive Officer Zhao Changpeng said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “We're pushing forward very aggressively.” Zhao said all his net worth is in crypto.

Bitcoin was up 7.8 percent at 11:35 a.m. in London. The most-watched coin dropped below $6,000 in November and tumbled to as low as $3,136 -- a more than 80 percent plunge from its record on Dec. 18 last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd White in Madrid at twhite2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net, Eddie van der Walt

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