I'll admit I am surprised; after it retook the $20k peak from ~2 years ago, I was explicitly curious if it would hit $40k this time around.
I still neither like Bitcoin nor believe in its utility nor intend to ever hold any, but I also no longer feel comfortable forecasting its future peaks and troughs.
There is a general upward trend. A 1 year moving average is already enough to see that a lot of Bitcoin bubbles are purely psychological. It's purely a function of the popularity of Bitcoin and it's ability to grab the headlines. I haven't found a better cryptocurrency for the long term. You can take advantage of the bubbles because they are basically happening on a regular schedule.
I still neither like Bitcoin nor believe in its utility nor intend to ever hold any, but I also no longer feel comfortable forecasting its future peaks and troughs.