Bitcoin surged past $96,000 as May opened, reaching levels not seen since February's steep correction when President Donald Trump’s aggressive U.S. trade policies began to trigger declines.

Bitcoin has rebounded 21% from its February low of $78,900 and 28% from early April's $75,000 bottom. The surge past the $96,000 price mark represents Bitcoin's strongest position since the price decline trend began the last week of February.

"Bitcoin's recent price appreciation is the result of long-term momentum rather than a temporary phenomenon," Ryan Yoon, lead research analyst at Tiger Research, told Decrypt.

He said Bitcoin is now "transitioning from a speculative asset to an essential component in institutional investor portfolios," Yoon noted.

Key factors, according to Yoon, include "consistent purchasing" from BTC treasury companies such as Strategy. On Monday, the firm approached the limits of its equity program with another buy, after having bought $1.4 billion worth of Bitcoin the week before. And Japanese Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet, which has amassed $481 million worth of Bitcoin, announced Wednesday that it's opening a U.S. subsidiary.

These factors, "coupled with steady capital inflows through ETFs," show "sustained institutional interest," Yoon explained.

Still, other industry observers maintain a cautiously optimistic forecast.

"After bottoming at $75,000, BTC is in the process of decoupling from other risk assets and moving back to [an alternate] store of value," Andrew Lawrence, chief and co-founder of BTC meme coin DEX Funkybit, told Decrypt.

"I expect significantly higher prices from here, given the uncertain global monetary outlook," Lawrence said.

Still, there's expectation of "expanded liquidity," Tiger Research's Yoon noted. This, combined with "the psychological 'round number effect' of $100,000," has driven up market sentiment and fueled the ongoing recovery.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is changing hands at roughly $96,200, with volume ramping up $7 billion from the previous day's $23 billion.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.