Bitcoin Rebounds Above $14,000 as Investors Find a Bottom

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin appeared to find a bottom Friday, rebounding above $14,000 after moves by South Korea to curb speculation and protect retail customers sent the cryptocurrency sliding yesterday.

Bitcoin climbed 5.3 percent to $14,684 at 12 p.m. in New York, composite Bloomberg pricing showed.

The digital currency has slumped about 27 percent from its record $19,511 reached on Dec. 18, when CME Group Inc. introduced its futures contract. While bitcoin's debut on regulated derivatives exchanges in Chicago was thought to have given it a new mainstream channel for investors to tap, so far trading volume has been limited.

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"Short-term support is about $13,500 -- we've hit that the last couple of trading sessions," Chris Gersch, director of strategy at alternative investment management firm Bell Curve Capital LP in Chicago, said on Bloomberg Television. "Ultimately I think it moves lower and tests last week's lows around $12,400 in the futures contract," he said, referring to the CME version.

The South Korean government has been among the loudest voices of concern about a possible speculative bubble in the largest cryptocurrency, which is still up about 1,500 percent for the year. The country is something of a bellwether for global demand, with South Koreans paying premiums about 20 percent over prevailing international rates as of Friday.

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--With assistance from Shery Ahn Garfield Reynolds and Robert Brand

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Lam in Hong Kong at elam87@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Natasha Doff, Cecile Gutscher

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.