How could the price shoot up from around 70 to 135 when the fundamentals could not be worse - bitcoin-24 halted, bitfloor shuts down and blockchain was down? Could people really rally because of that article about Western Union on fox?

Or, was the price of around 260 actually reflecting demand and the freefall to 50 was not because of some bubble but merely a technical glitch?

I suppose one rational explanation could be that most people buy bitcoins and hold. This makes the amount of bitcoins available even less.  Since a lot of people are still finding out about bitcoins or re-visiting bitcoins following all the media exposure, even more people want bitcoins. Translating to less sellers and more buyers. Hence the price is going up even though the lifeblood of the currency - exchanges - are being shut.

I just find it a bit amazing that people are willing to pay 119 for 1 bitcoin with all these exchanges being shut and DDos'ing and hacking and considering how difficult it is to even buy the thing.