Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week at comfortable highs as traders square off over BTC price action to come.As macroeconomic uncertainty continues to gro
Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week at comfortable highs as traders square off over BTC price action to come.
As macroeconomic uncertainty continues to grow, Bitcoin is cementing its new trading zone above $30,000.
The highest weekly close since early May 2022 is the latest achievement for bulls, and so far, bid support has allowed the market to avoid a deep retracement after last week’s snap 15% gains.
How could the environment change for BTC/USD this week?
As Bitcoin heads into the October monthly close, would-be volatility catalysts are brewing — not least thanks to the increasing geopolitical instability in the Middle East.
Adding to the hurdles for risk assets to overcome is the United States Federal Reserve, which will decide on interest rate adjustments on Nov. 1.
Under the hood, Bitcoin is looking better than ever, and the numbers prove it — network fundamentals are either at or circling all-time highs, continuing a trend in place for much of this year.
As price survives a mass profit-taking event at the hands of speculators, faith in further upside is proving hard to shake — but for some, the specter of a $20,000 crash is still firmly in play.
Cointelegraph takes a look at these factors and more in the weekly rundown of potential BTC price influencers for the coming days.
Countdown to the end of “Uptober”
After its highest weekly close in 18 months, Bitcoin continues to consolidate near $34,000 as the week begins.
A late-weekend surge took BTC price action to $34,700, helping add to the day’s BTC short liquidations, per data from monitoring resource CoinGlass.
Despite this, the last weekly close of October was a calm event compared to a week prior, and with the monthly close now in focus, market participants will be keen to see if “Uptober” retains its bullish status.
Eyeing relative strength index (RSI) behavior, popular analyst Matthew Hyland was optimistic on the day.
“Current Bitcoin position would eliminate any possibility of bearish divergence forming on the weekly later on off the prior RSI high,” he wrote in an X post.
“This is extremely good for the bullish side and worst possible close for the bearish side.”
An accompanying chart showed RSI hitting higher highs on weekly timeframes. In a previous post, Hyland said that a weekly close at current levels would constitute a wider breakout.
#Bitcoin Weekly closes tommorow
It will potentially confirm a massive breakout of a 6 month+ consolidation
There is also is a chance the weekly RSI will put in a higher high as well and negate any chance at bearish divergence later on pic.twitter.com/WPnkc1e2rE
— Matthew Hyland (@MatthewHyland_) October 28, 2023
RSI, which traditionally acts as an overbought signal at a given price when above 70, stood at 69.7 at the time of writing, with BTC/USD at $34,300, per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.
Similarly buoyant about what could happen to BTC price strength this week was popular trader Titan of Crypto.
In one of his latest X updates, he used the Ichimoku cloud to argue that a breakout toward $40,000 was on the cards.
#Bitcoin at $40,000 next week? #BTC is trying to breakout from both bullish pennant and the inside bar’s range.
Tenkan starts pointing up ↗️.
If the following conditions are matched :
– Kijun followsTenkan.
– Daily candle manages to close above the range and stay… pic.twitter.com/qZ7PZ5L9n2— Titan of Crypto (@Washigorira) October 29, 2023
As Cointelegraph reported last week, $40,000 is a popular target for bulls, but some remain notably surprised by the strength of the recent rally.
Trader Bluntz argued that it was “wild that we broke 32k with conviction held and have now found acceptance above 34k.”
“The doubt and disbelief is still lingering,” he continued in part of X commentary, suggesting that many retained a bear market mentality.
$20,000 BTC price dive “worst case scenario”
Despite a week of holding higher levels, Bitcoin is far from convincing everyone that they will endure.
As Cointelegraph continues to report, $20,000 is a crash level which is still very much on the radar for some market participants.
The site of both a CME futures gap and the psychologically significant 2017 all-time high, $20,000 has not left traders’ consciousness seven months after BTC/USD last traded there.
All CME gaps filled in the chart,
Except $20k.$BTC pic.twitter.com/YS1XfIotCs
— Poseidon (@CryptoPoseidonn) October 28, 2023
Commenting on the prospect of such a move becoming reality, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital described it as a “worst case scenario.”
The timeframe for this to occur is the five-and-a-half months remaining until the next block subsidy halving event.
“That would be a -42% drop from here,” he wrote at the weekend.
“How likely is it that this could happen? Worst-case scenarios typically have a low probability of occurring.”
Rekt…
cointelegraph.com