Bitcoin surged more than 160% over the past 12 months, and many expect this uptrend will accelerate in 2024.

Ayear ago, the Bitcoin price was sitting at $16,837. Over the following 12 months, the flagship cryptocurrency staged a 160% comeback. Several factors helped BTC orchestrate its impressive recovery, but can it sustain the momentum in 2024?

Bitcoin Outperforms Gold, SPX After Stellar 2023 Performance

Last year was one of the worst-ever years for the crypto market, but much of the blows were offset by trends that ensued in 2023.

Bitcoin, trading at around $16,800 a year ago, surged more than 160% over the past 12 months. When writing on December 21, the flagship cryptocurrency was sitting just above $44,000, near 2-year highs. Amidst this impressive rise, BTC has outperformed traditional assets, including gold and the S&P 500, which gained approximately 12% and 21% in the past year, respectively. 

Bitcoin’s recovery began in the earliest days of 2023. The cryptocurrency has bounced back boldly in the face of gloomy prices, low trading volumes, and challenging economic circumstances. 

However, most of its gains came later in the year as BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, filed to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The move was mimicked by several other prominent firms, including Invesco, Ark Invest, Fidelity, and others. 

As the market sentiment improved, trading volumes also recovered ground, with the combined spot and derivatives volume on centralized exchanges soaring to $3.61 trillion in November, up from $2.9 trillion in January. 

The ETF hype and FTX’s advancing plans to distribute billions of dollars to affected customers and creditors brought a fresh wave of optimism into crypto, propelling BTC above the $40,000 psychological threshold in early December. 

Meanwhile, the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance faced setbacks after pleading guilty to anti-money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting, and sanctions violations allegations. However, this development had little negative impact on the recent crypto rally.

Bitcoin Price Forecasts for 2024

Bitcoin’s upturn this year is nothing short of impressive,, but many hope the best is yet to come.

With growing convictions that the SEC will approve the much-discussed spot Bitcoin ETF and the upcoming halving event, many are hopeful the king cryptocurrency will expand its momentum in 2024.

As regards specific price forecasts, several predictions have been suggested. For instance, digital asset firm Nexo said it is “pretty confident” that BTC could surge as high as $100,000 in 2024. Analysts at Standard Chartered Bank share those views, reiterating their April forecast that BTC would reach a 5-digit milestone by the end of 2024. 

On the other hand, asset management firm VanEck offered a slightly more conservative prediction. It said that Bitcoin’s price is unlikely to drop below $30,000 during Q1 2024, although a new all-time high can be reached by the end of the year.  

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