Bitcoin headed for its third straight winning week, as traders searched for refuge amid volatile moves in equities, currencies and bond markets.
The token is also up 4.6% week to date and hit a high of $82,272.31 overnight. That marks its highest level since May 11, when bitcoin peaked at $82,499.99. It last traded at $81,151.10.
Bitcoin had been in the doldrums for much of this year, trading roughly within the range of $60,000 to $70,000 since early June. However, the digital asset broke above $70,000 in late August, and it has continued to climb since then as the so-called debasement trade — a strategy in which traders move away from dollars into assets such as crypto or gold — regained momentum.
Bitcoin 5-day chart
“The price breakout came towards the [end of August] with the re-emergence of the debasement trade re-igniting investor interest in BTC – the U.S. Treasury announced it would increase purchases of longer-dated Treasuries, long yields fell, the dollar weakened, and BTC and gold moved higher,” Dominika Nestarcova, Goldman Sachs executive director of digital assets, said in a note Thursday.
Other cryptocurrencies are also rising. Ether hit a high of $2,545.62 on Friday, or its most elevated level since August 27. Solana jumped to as much as about $105.70, marking its highest price since August 31.