Bitcoin back above $16,000, up 50% from Friday

The Bitcoin phenomena experiences both record highs and lows this week, but…uhh, what the heck is it again? USA TODAY

Bitcoin rallied Tuesday, recovering from a sharp sell-off late last week.

The digital currency briefly climbed more than 12.5% to above $16,100 late Tuesday morning, according to Coinbase, the leading U.S. platform for trading major digital currencies.

With Tuesday's gains, bitcoin has now recovered more than 50% from a low of $10,400 hit Friday in an extremely volatile day of trading that had no immediately apparent explanation behind it.

The CME bitcoin futures expiring in January traded almost 13.6% higher Tuesday near $16,055, and the Cboe bitcoin futures gained 14.5% to $16,000.