Bitcoin Cash, the cryptocurrency born out of a contentious Bitcoin fork in 2017, is making headlines as it surges to its highest price in nearly three years. The coin has seen a 5% increase in the last 24 hours, a nearly 28% jump over the past week, and a sizable 43% rally in the last 30 days, per data from CoinGecko.

Today, BCH skyrocketed from just above $600 to a daily high of about $697, before correcting to its current price of $635. Today’s high marks the highest price point for BCH since November 2021, although still significantly below its all-time high of nearly $3,786, which was recorded in December 2017.

The recent spike in BCH’s price can be attributed to a couple of factors.

Firstly, the anticipation surrounding the upcoming Bitcoin Cash halving, scheduled to occur in just two days, has contributed to the bullish sentiment. The halving event, which reduces block mining rewards by 50%, is expected to slow down inflation and increase the scarcity of the coin. Historically, such events have led to significant price increases, as evidenced by Bitcoin’s (BTC) own post-halving performance.

Bitcoin’s own halving is set to happen on April 20. Both BTC and BCH have their respective halvings set at the same block height, however a change in the mining algorithm increased the mining rate of BCH, resulting in a different halving date. BCH is currently is expected to go through its halving on April 3, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) on September 8, and Bitcoin Gold (BTG) on April 23.

Secondly, the cryptocurrency has returned to the limelight following the publication of a book by Roger Ver—an O.G. BTC evangelist, now a leading figure in the BCH space—which reignited debates about the ethos behind Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin. The invitation from Blockstream CEO Adam Back for Ver to abandon BCH and join Bitcoin, although since declined, could have fueled the debate and potentially introduce BCH to newcomers.

From a technical point of view, Bitcoin Cash’s positive performance defies the overall market trends. While Bitcoin is retracing below $69,000 after failing to break past $71,000, BCH is the best-performing coin in the top 40 coins by market cap.

Bitcoin Cash’s bullish trend is not just a short-term phenomenon. The cryptocurrency has more than doubled in price since the start of 2024. This positive performance was mostly boosted by a major bullish candle on March 3, when the price spiked 57.93% from $316.4 to $500.

Technical indicators also point to a strong bullish trend for BCH. The widening gap between the 10-day exponential moving average (EMA 10) and the 55-day mark (EMA 55) suggests that short-term traders are driving prices up. The Average Directional Movement (ADX) at 29 indicates a strong bullish trend, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 70 points shows a clear bullish sentiment among traders.

However, today’s currently forming candlestick suggests a slight correction in prices. If this continues, the immediate support level to test is around $567 set by the EMA10 for a -16% drop, or near $470 in a longer time frame—which would be healthy in terms of market behavior and not cancel the bullish outlook in a short timeframe. Conversely, if the upward trend persists, BCH could be heading towards a zone between $730 and $790.

Edited by Andrew Hayward