Bitcoin holds above $7,000 after hitting nine-month high

Price of the cryptocurrency has almost doubled this year

LONDON: Bitcoin hovered above $7,000 on Monday, close to nine-month highs, as the biggest cryptocurrency's 2019 rally gathered steam.

Bitcoin was last up 1.1% at $7,056 on the Bitstamp exchange after soaring 14% on Saturday - its second largest daily jump this year - to its highest since early August.

Analysts and traders said the outsized move over the weekend did not appear to be the result of any immediate news factors.

David Thomas, of London-based cryptocurrency broker GlobalBlock, said the breaching of a key $6,000 support level last week had fueled interest among investors.

Other market participants said perceptions of bitcoin's resilience in the wake of last week's $40 million theft from the major Binance exchange was supporting sentiment. Cryptocurrency markets have previously fallen after high-profile security breaches.

Bitcoin has almost doubled in price this year, underscoring its volatility after a bruising 2018. Last year, it lost some three-quarters of its value amid tighter regulation across the world.

Last month, bitcoin jumped to its highest in six months, pulling smaller cryptocurrencies up with it in a move that traders and analysts ascribed to technical forces with no apparent news catalysts at play.

Other major cryptocurrencies that tend be correlated to bitcoin such as ethereum and Ripple's XRP also gained.

Bitcoin gained more than 35% in April, due largely to a 20% jump that caused puzzlement among traders and underscored flaws in cryptocurrency markets.