Impending CME gap close could propel Bitcoin price to $18,000

Within the last hour Bitcoin price surged through the $16,200 level to secure a new 2020 high at $16,473.

The 6.62% move brings the top-ranked digital asset closer to closing a CME gap in the $16,465 to $16,570 zone and a growing number of analysts expect the price to break above the $17,200 level if the CME gap is closed.

Despite the excitement surrounding Bitcoin's surge to a new multi-year high, Cointelegraph contributor Micheal van de Poppe pointed out that Bitcoin has rapidly ascended to new highs without establishing strong supports.

"Many levels beneath the current price are untested on the weekly timeframe. A healthy way to build up a new cycle is the backtesting of previous resistance levels as new areas of support."

While stocks had initially surged after President Elect Joe Biden was declared the winner of the U.S. election but over the past few days coronavirus infections have risen to a record 150,000 infections per day which in turn has made investors fearful that a new phase of econoimc shutdowns could be announced.

Bitcoin has largely ignored the downturn in stocks and the increasing spread of COVID-19 and at the time of writing the cryptocurrency is up 26.78% in November and 127.7% year-to-date.

Bullish news like PayPal's announcement that it had nixed its waiting list for clients looking to trade cryptocurrencies is surely working in Bitcoin's favor.

Given that PayPal has an immense users base, analysts are watching to see if there is an influx of new Bitcoin investors as this will likely result in increased demand and push the price even higher.

While Bitcoin price and volumes at an assortment of DeFi platforms have been on the rise, altcoins have seen marginal gains.

According to CoinMarketCap, the overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $466.5 billion and Bitcoin's dominance rate is 65.4%..