Bitcoin Price Skyrockets $500 in Minutes as Bakkt BTC Contracts Hit Highs

Bitcoin surged $500 in just five minutes today after experiencing a sharp drop on Oct. 23, from $7,950 to $7,450 and sitting at the position for two consecutive days.

According to the data from Coin360, BTC gained $536 in minutes, skyrocketing from $7,855 to $8,391.

At press time Bitcoin is trading at around $8,424, up nearly 13% over the past 24 hours.

While the reason behind the recent drop is not clear, some community members attribute Bitcoin's latest surge to 661 BTC futures contracts liquidation on the Bakkt platform, with the last recorded trading price settling at $7,890 per Bitcoin.

Today's volume so far: 661 BTC".? Last traded price: $7,890.

00.? Trading day progress: 38%". The latest trade deal on Bakkt apparently marked a new all-time high in BTC futures volumes, following the previous high of 452 BTC futures contracts traded on Oct. 23.

Still other members of the community attribute today's BTC surge to President Xi Jinping's encouragement of blockchain development in the country.

Bitcoin's rally has pulled altcoins higher, with some of the top-20 coins reporting double-digit gains on the day.

In general, the top-20 cryptocurrencies are up from 0.02% to 21%. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrency markets is around $228,9 billion, up from $208 billion earlier in the day.