Yes you can - bitcoin held prior to the fork is valid on both chains. And yes it is still going up. An alternative scaling solution (to the big blocks proposed

Yes you can - bitcoin held prior to the fork is valid on both chains. And yes it is still going up. An alternative scaling solution (to the big blocks proposed by the 'new' fork) Segwit will be going ahead - aiding the scalability of 'old' Bitcoin fork, which may explain some/all of the price rise. Along with the uncertainty reduction post fork. 'New' and 'old' here are somewhat arbitrary/controversial ways of thinking of the fork. Proponents of Bitcoin cash might argue having no limit was closer to Satoshi's original intention - the block limit was originally added in as a temporary measure. Lots of politics going on around that.