Bitcoin Price Breaches $12,000 As Analysts Suggest 'Bear Trap' Complete

Bitcoin continued defying expectations to retake $12,000 on July 4 as analysts increasingly compare its performance to 2017's parabolic rise.

Data from Coin360 showed BTC/USD retracing slightly to $11,680 after hitting $12,025, continuing a rebound which began on Tuesday.

Bitcoin's behavior had surprised most earlier in the week, after a bearish move downwards to just $9,700 suddenly U-turned, mushrooming into fresh growth.

Now, charts are looking increasingly like a repeat of bitcoin's progress in the second half of 2017, regular trader Filb Filb says.

Despite uploading what he described as a tongue-in-cheek chart, its prophecy - $14,000 - would nonetheless likely come true, he explained, noting bitcoin must first clear resistance around $12,100.

"Last couple days were a bear trap and Bitcoin continues to look strong," fellow trader and investor, Josh Rager, continued.

Bitcoin's 2019 high so far resides at just over $13,800.

In future, prediction models suggest, a year-end price of $21,000 would be appropriate, eclipsing the 2017 all-time high of $20,000.

Bitcoin meanwhile also continues to climb in overall market dominance, currently accounting for just under 63% of the total cryptocurrency market cap - the highest since the 2017 price peak.

The figure spells out ongoing pain for altcoin investors, with major tokens failing once again to match bitcoin's growth performance.