The price of bitcoin has hit $20,270 today, marking a 7.5% rise over the cryptocurrency's 24-hour-low of $18,858. Surprisingly, the jump comes amid continued negative sentiment in global markets, with the Dow Jones entering a technical bear market following a 1.1% decline yesterday, which completed a 20% fall compared to peaks witnessed in January.
Analysis suggests that increases in spot trading volume is largely responsible for BTC's push upwards, with its descent to support levels of around $18,500 helping to incite a rebound. However, with the macroeconomic picture remaining decidedly uncertain it may not be the best possible time to buy, even if passing through the $20,000 barrier may indicate a short-term breakout.
The past week hadn't been kind to bitcoin or the cryptocurrency market in general. BTC sank to a seven-day low of $18,424 on Thursday, and despite a short-lived rebound on Friday, it hovered around the $19,000 level until very early this morning.
BTC's indicators have shown an uptick, yet remain far from running out of steam and moving into overbought territory. Its relative strength index (in purple) has gone vertical in the past few hours, moving beyond 50.
That said, its 30-day moving average (red) is still comfortably below its 200-day average (blue). While this means the current movement could still continue, it also suggests that BTC has yet to enter a real breakout.
Still, with the market being subdued for so long, analysts are treating this morning's movement as evidence of some kind of small-scale breakout
While analyst and Eight founder Michaël van de Poppe suggests the BTC price may see some consolidation before rising again, he also predicts an increase towards $23,000 (and beyond) in the near
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