Bitcoin climbed back above the $US8200 mark in overnight for the first time since late May.

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency has now rallied by almost 40 per cent since dipping below $US5900 at the end of June.

This morning prices were holding above $US8200 — up 6 per cent over the past 24 hours.

Most other cryptocurrencies followed Bitcoin’s lead. Ethereum was up 5 per cent at $US473 at 7am AEST this morning.

The increases follow a sharp Bitcoin rally last week, which some analysts said may have been driven by a short-squeeze on traders who held bearish positions against bitcoin.

Others have speculated the recent bounce may be stemming from continued interest in the space by big institutuaionl investors.

Here is the a graph showing the price of Bitcoin in $US over the past six months:

The price is increasing on the back of a support from big US institutions.

Goldman Sachs is setting up a crypto trading desk, offering clients exposure to bitcoin-related derivatives.

And US exchange Coinbase is building out a prime brokerage platform to attract institutional capital, with the help of a $US20 billion hedge fund.

Analysis of Google Trends data also shows searches for “bitcoin etf” (exchange traded fund) have spiked again in July, after interest tailed off following the height of the crypto bull market in late-2017:

Source: Google Trends

 

This article first appeared on Business Insider Australia, Australia’s most popular business news website. Follow Business Insider on Facebook or Twitter.