Bitcoin Pares Gain After Touching Top of Recent Trading Range

Bitcoin climbed to the higher bound of its recent trading range before the largest cryptocurrency pared its gain as turmoil in the Middle East continued to whipsaw global markets.

The digital currency - promoted as alternative to the conventional financial system since its inception more than 15 year ago - increased as much as 5.3% to almost $74,000 before cutting that increase by about half. It has traded in a rough range of around $75,000 to $60,000 since early February.