> Bitcoin has been in an upward trend since early September for no discernible reason (to me at least).

I think it's mainly due to purchases from institutions that believe that Bitcoin is a safe haven asset during the lockdowns. The spiel is: it's protection from currency debasement due to Central Banks everywhere printing out at low interest rates for the pandemic.

- Square spread 50MUSD worth buys @ 10K USD early October [1]

- Microstrategy spread 425M buys from 9-10K USD around August - September [2]

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/08/square-buys-50-million-in-bi...

[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherbrookins/2020/08/14/...

Also at least partially attributable to retail outflow from Bitmex because of regulatory crackdown.

Was hanging at 10-11 and shot up (eh) after Square invested 1% (50m) of their assets. Has been a steady rise (dont know trade terms 'scuse me), I:m assuming it might stay or jump a few more k. Disclaimer: I don't trade.

It's also been the summer where DeFi 10x'd, so no surprise BTC has gone up a bit now that folks can earn interest on their BTC by providing wrapped BTC liquidity on Ethereum.

Just like all the other assets these days