Amid 2nd weekend surge, Bitcoin price reaches highest since Aug; predicted to hit $44,000

Bitcoin rallied to its highest levels since August ahead of celebrations for the Lunar New Year holiday throughout Asia, surging at the start of the weekend for a second straight time, reports Bloomberg. (Unsplash)

Bitcoin, which is the largest cryptocurrency, rose as much as 2.1% to $22,786, the highest level since August 18. (Unsplash)

Bitcoin also had strong gains over Friday and Saturday last weekend. Second-ranked Ether advanced as much as 2.4% to levels not seen since September. (Unsplash)

This comes amid more predictions that the cryptocurrency market has passed its lows, and at the start of the Lunar New Year holiday celebrated across much of Asia, also often referred to as Chinese New Year. (Unsplash)

 “Buying Bitcoin at the end of the first day of Chinese New Year and selling it 10 trading days later would have returned +9%, on average,” Markus Thielen, head of research at Matrixport, told Bloomberg. (Unsplash)

Bitcoin has rallied at the start of 2023. It and Ether are up more than 35% amid a more promising macro picture (Unsplash)

The Federal Reserve is on track to downshift to smaller interest-rate increases following the further cooling in prices, though it’s likely to keep hiking until pressures show more definitive signs of slowing. (Unsplash)

Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, predicts that Bitcoin will rise to $35,000 to $44,000 this year, and that Ether will hit $2,400 to $3,200 (Unsplash)