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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Bitcoin jumps 20 percent, mystery order seen as catalyst [reuters.com]

Bitcoin soared to its highest in almost five months on Tuesday, pulling smaller cryptocurrencies up with it, after a major order by an anonymous buyer set off a frenzy of computer-driven trading, analysts said.

The original cryptocurrency soared as much as 20 percent in Asian trading, breaking $5,000 for the first time since mid-November. By mid-afternoon, it had settled around $4,800, still up 16 percent in its biggest one-day gain since April last year.

[...] Today's gain was probably triggered by an order worth about $100 million spread across U.S.-based exchanges Coinbase and Kraken and Luxembourg's Bitstamp, said Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, chief executive of cryptocurrency firm BCB Group.

"There has been a single order that has been algorithmically-managed across these three venues, of around 20,000 BTC," he said. "If you look at the volumes on each of those three exchanges – there were in-concert, synchronized, units of volume of around 7,000 BTC in an hour".

See also: Bitcoin (BTC) Prices Explode after Fool's Day with "Zero" Fundamentals [newsbtc.com]

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