Buy pressure ‘in bull market territory’ — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

Bitcoin (BTC) begins the last week of March with a bang after returning to its yearly opening price above $46,000.

In a surprisingly strong upward move for a weekend, BTC/USD began surging upwards Saturday, continuing overnight to challenge its highs from the start of 2022.

Coming against an ongoing macro climate of considerable uncertainty, strength in Bitcoin is naturally being taken with a pinch of salt this month. The reaction is understandable given that previous attempts to break out of its multi-month trading range have all ended in failure.

Despite volatile periods, bulls were always left disappointed and Bitcoin subsequently not only reversed but often revisited the lower end of its range, costing both short and long positions dearly.

Nonetheless, the hope is that this time really will be different — analysts had long argued that only a breakout above the range ceiling, formed by the yearly open around $46,200, would be enough to cause a paradigm shift.

Now that this is in action on the charts, attention is focusing on the final hurdle — cementing these multi-month resistance levels as support.

With the process ongoing Monday, Cointelegraph takes a look at potential triggers that could make or break this important episode in Bitcoin price action.

Bitcoin wipes out the 2022 dip

“Gradually then suddenly” or pure chance? Traders are still trying to make sense of Bitcoin’s newfound strength this week.

It’s been a sight absent from the chart since the New Year — BTC/USD is back at $47,000. After jumping almost $3,000 in 24 hours, the largest cryptocurrency dealt a firm blow to resistance levels which had for months kept bulls firmly in their place.

The significance of $46,000 has been a hot topic for almost as long — a return to the yearly open, many said, would be the signal that Bitcoin was ready for bigger things once more.

Few would have thought that the phenomenon would play out “out of hours,” however, and suspicions over the rally’s real strength are naturally pervasive on social media as the week gets underway, just as they were as the rally itself began.

march 2020 – ct was bearish, fooo was bullish

may 2021 ct was bullish, fooo was bearish

july 2021 ct was bearish, fooo was staking fooo’s entire reputation on more upside

november 2021 fooo began dumping, ct was bullish

now ct is bullish and fooo is bearish

Wholesome

— fooo – Mayor of Goblin Town (@bitcoinpanda69) March 26, 2022

Nonetheless, even more cautious voices are no longer discounting the potential for further upside, even if longer-term prognosis remains downhill.

$BTC update
Yearly open tagged

Flip to supoort then 50k next with potential move into 53k imo

— Pentoshi (@Pentosh1) March 27, 2022

“Fundamental buying pressure for Bitcoin has now climbed into bull market territory,” analyst and statistician Willy Woo reported.

Fellow analyst Matthew Hyland, a key supporter of the $46,000 argument, meanwhile gave a target of $52,000 as the next long-term resistance wall to crack.

#Bitcoin has broken above the $46k resistance zone

The next major resistance zone is around $52k: pic.twitter.com/ueqi5xwkhi

— Matthew Hyland (@MatthewHyland_) March 28, 2022

In Twitter posts, he added that the move was preceded by a breakout on Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) indicator, itself a classic signal of breakout trends.

RSI assesses how overbought or oversold an asset is at a specific price, and in the case of Bitcoin, its score has been climbing off a floor level since mid-January, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows.

Further development of RSI, therefore, could dictate the extent of the rally, as per historical behavioral norms.

Analyst eyes Bitcoin stocks decoupling

It’s a confusing world out there, and when it comes to how Bitcoin should be acting, the picture does not get any easier.

Inflation, war in Europe and the persistent threat of Coronavirus returning — to name just three major macro triggers — have had commentators forecasting doom and gloom for stocks and risk assets alike in 2022.

Just this month, multiple sources warned that Bitcoin could soon face its Waterloo as a dramatic stocks capitulation sparks another March 2020 moment.

The “easy money” age which followed that event is gone, and only a continuation of quantitative easing would bring back the huge capital flows Bitcoin enjoyed later that year, some argued.

Now, however, Bitcoin appears to be striking out on its own, challenging an intense stock market correlation which in the case of the S&P 500 reached a 17-month high last week.

While the S&P has shaken off the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war and plans for tightening by the United States Federal Reserve, analysis shows that selling has been considerable and shorts are everywhere — the perfect fuel, ironically enough, for a fresh “short squeeze” upwards.

Equity Traders sold heavily into this rally:

• One…