Bitcoin soars above $1,100

Jonathan Garber

Feb 21, 2017, 18:15 IST

Reuters/Mark Blinch

A Bitcoin sign is seen in a window in Toronto.

Bitcoin has broken out to its best levels since the beginning of the year as overnight buying has the cryptocurrency higher by 4% at $1,101.70 per coin.

Tuesday's advance marks bitcoin's eighth straight gain and has run action above the $1,100 mark for the first time since January 5. A move above $1,161.85 will have bitcoin trading at its best level since November 2013.

The eight-day winning streak comes amid investor speculation the Securities and Exchange Commission will approve at least one of the three proposed bitcoin-focused exchange-traded funds despite analyst concerns that none will be approved.

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Bitcoin has had a wild start to 2017.

It rallied more than 20% in the opening week of the year, propelled by speculative buying in China. It then proceeded to crash 35%, bottoming out below $800, amid concerns China was going to crackdown on trading.

After shrugging off concerns that Chinese exchanges were going to charge a flat fee of 0.2% per transaction, buyers re-emerged and ran bitcoin above $1,050 before two of China's largest exchanges said they were blocking withdrawals.