Bitcoin preserves gains near $6000, on track to close fifth straight week higher

Following last week's record-setting rally, the BTC/USD pair made a technical correction during the first half of the week before gaining traction on Thursday and surging to a new all-time high on Friday. At the moment, the pair is trading slightly below its record high of $6030 at $6000, up $300, or 5.3% on the day. 

Today's surge seems to be fueled by an increasing trading volume in cryptocurrencies. "In the last 24 hours and really the last few hours there has been a massive inflow of capital into bitcoin, significantly outweighing the amount of new money flowing into other cryptocurrencies," Alex Sunnarborg, founding partner of cryptocurrency fund Tetras Capital, told CNBC.

Analyzing today's price action, coindesk.com in a recent article pointed out that the data from Google Trends revealed that bitcoin search volume advanced to near all-time highs.

Since the start of the month, the pair gained nearly 40%, lifting the total yearly earnings above 500%.