The price of bitcoin (BTC) broke above $9,000 on a bullish run at 9:00 UTC (4:00 a.m. EST). The world’s leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization is up 4 percent in the past 24 hours, with a high reaching $9,150 on exchanges including Coinbase.
The last time bitcoin traded above $9,000 was on Feb. 26.
An uptrend started taking shape at 0:00 UTC Thursday as prices broke out of a steady $8,600 to $8,800 range. Bitcoin quickly surpassed its 50-day moving average at that time on higher buying volume than the same period yesterday.
The bullish run comes amid positive news regarding cryptocurrency from India’s Supreme Court. A decision allowing Indian banks to work with cryptocurrency firms reverses an April 2018 prohibition on providing such services to the country of over one billion people.
“The reckless ban on Indian banks working with cryptocurrency companies a few years ago was a big setback for Indian startups short term and the Indian economy long term,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in a recent tweet.
Bitcoin hasn’t been in the $9,000 price range since Feb. 26. Year to date, bitcoin is up 26 percent, outperforming the S&P 500’s 5 percent decline since Jan. 1.
Many other cryptocurrencies are up today, particularly bitcoin forks, with bitcoin gold (BTG) up 15 percent, bitcoin SV (BSV) in the green 9 percent and bitcoin cash (BCH) ahead 7 percent.