Top Reasons to Be Bullish on the Bitcoin Price Today

The bitcoin price has been increasing steadily over the past month, and on Wednesday it reached a three-month high of $300. The last time the bitcoin price exceeded $300 was on July 13, when it reached a high of $310.09.
Significantly, the cryptocurrency hit the $300 mark on six of major bitcoin exchanges: CoinDesk, Bitstamp, Bitfinex, Coinbase, itBit and OKCoin. OKCoin and Coinbase saw the highest prices of the day, respectively recording bitcoin values of $308.19 and $308.18. BTC-e, another bitcoin exchange, was left out in the cold — its top bitcoin price of the day came in at $299.71.

Why the rise?

According to CoinDesk, the majority of trading in the past 24 hours has occurred on Chinese bitcoin exchanges — 45.18 percent took place on OkCoin, 33.43 percent on Huobi and 5.29 percent on BTCC. This regional concentration isn’t new; China has dominated bitcoin trading for the past month, and that trend suggests that the rising bitcoin price may be attributable to Chinese traders fearing currency controls in the country.
However, it’s also possible that the increase in the bitcoin price is linked to a recent EU ruling that recognizes bitcoin as a currency exempt from value-added tax.

Time to invest?

Although the price of bitcoin remains considerably lower than it was this time last year, it has nonetheless been on an upward streak lately. Indeed, the price has increased 30.3 percent since the beginning of September, offering bitcoin investors a solid return on investment.
So, is now a good time to invest in the cryptocurrency? Venture capitalists remain keen on bitcoin investing, although perhaps slightly less so than in previous quarters. While a whopping $373 million was funneled into bitcoin startups in the first half of 2015, investment has taken a relative downturn in the third quarter.

However, there is still a modest 15-percent growth rate on venture capital investment, illustrating investors’ faith in the bitcoin market. Barry Silbert’s estimation that the total amount of venture capital invested in bitcoin companies will surpass $1 billion by the end of the month was cited in a recent Bloomberg article, and the Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:GBTC) saw a 2.49-percent increase on Wednesday, reaching a high of $29.
These figures illustrate that although investment has slowed relative to the impressive growth rates seen in previous quarters, investors remain bullish on bitcoin. All in all, it appears to still be a currency to watch.
 
Securities Disclosure: I, Morag McGreevey, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.