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Bitcoin's ongoing rally looks to have legs, as the price rise is backed by an uptick in the network activity.

The top cryptocurrency jumped to a three-month high of $9,850 on Thursday and was last seen trading around $9,750, representing 36 percent gains on a year-to-date basis.

A few observers think that an increase in on-chain volume along with an increase in price is an indicator of trend strength.

Going with that argument, the recent price rally looks strong, as the cryptocurrency's mean onchain transaction volume has also reached a three-month high of $72,555, according to the data analytics form glassnode. The previous three-month high of $72,546 was seen on Jan. 17.

"A divergence between on-chain transaction volume and price appreciation has typically been a bearish signal,” Nicholas Pelecanos, advisor to NEM Ventures, told CoinDesk.

Further confirming the price uptrend is the surge in open positions in bitcoin futures listed on top exchanges.

For instance, open interest, or the number of open futures contracts in monthly bitcoin futures on the Intercontinental Exchange's (ICE) Bakkt platform, rose to a new lifetime high of $13 million on Thursday, surpassing the previous record high of $12 million reached on Feb. 3, according to data analytics firm Skew.

Open positions on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's bitcoin futures also jumped to a five-month high of $249 million on Wednesday – up 34.5 percent from $185 million seen two weeks ago.

Bull Run Continues

BTC: Price: $9,830 | Market cap: $177 billion | 24-Hr Volume: $40 billion

Trend: Bullish

Bitcoin continues to gain altitude. The cryptocurrency rose to fresh three-month highs above $9,850 early Friday.

Notably, prices have risen from $6,425 to $9,800 in the last seven weeks, erasing more than 45 percent of the decline seen in the July to mid-December period.

The bullish momentum looks quite strong with daily chart reporting higher lows and higher highs structure. As a result, the cryptocurrency look set to challenge resistance at $10,000 and could possibly break higher toward the October high of $10,350.

Traders, however, should note that $9,850 has emerged as hurdle in the last 24 hours. Prices have failed three times in the last 24 hours to keep gains above that level and another failure could cause some buyers to take profit, leading to a price pullback to $9,600.

Read Analysis

In this feature of the Markets Daily newsletter, we aggregate news, reports, ideas and tweets relevant to crypto traders and investors.

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Ex-Saxo Bank Hong Kong CEO Matt Long Joins Crypto Firm OSL
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Citi, Goldman Sachs Conduct First Blockchain Equity Swap On Ethereum-Inspired Platform (Forbes)
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.

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