Bitcoin climbed above $30,000 Monday night for the first time since June – and sustained that level throughout trading on Tuesday. After overcoming several obstacles over the past three months, bitcoin ended March up more than 20% and advanced more than 70% over the course of the first quarter. It’s now up about 82% for 2023 and many investors consider crypto to be in or near the start of a new bull market (the previous one began in January 2021). This week’s price rally has added to the optimism around bitcoin’s recent strength and resilience and interest from new investors – and chart analysts agree the cryptocurrency is in a solid uptrend trend – after posting a 63% loss for 2022. Ari Wald from Oppenheimer said “we continue to believe the price of bitcoin has reversed higher” – evidenced by a chart pattern showing a period of consolidation is followed by a breakout. “Specially, following its March breakout above key resistance, price had consolidated sideways for a number of weeks,” he said. “This consolidation allows excesses to recede and sets up the next leg of the advance.” BTC.CM= ETH.CM= 1Y line Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) over the past year Fairlead Strategies’ Katie Stockton echoed that, saying bitcoin “pushed out of its consolidation phase, following a base breakout in March.” She called the price action “bullish with an intermediate-term time horizon.” Long-term, bitcoin still has challenges, she added. However, even if this is a new bull market, it’s no rocket ship rally from here, the analysts said. “This is definitely a positive but it is too early to call victory,” said Julius de Kempenaer, senior technical analyst at StockCharts.com. “Bitcoin support and resistance levels are renowned for being very fluid and rough. Given the range of the resistance, $30,000 is nothing more than a nice round number – which is definitely a magnet for many people but from a pure technical point of view it is of less importance.” He said the resistance area for bitcoin remains between $28,500 and $32,000. Going forward, if bitcoin can hold above the low end of that range, the road for bitcoin will be “free for a more meaningful rally targeting $45,000 to $47,500.” Similarly, Stockton is watching a range of between $25,200 and $28,100. Her secondary target level is a little lower, however, at $35,900. Wald highlighted $32,000, last June’s peak, as the next resistance. For ether , the outlook is similar, de Kempenaer said. The recent breakout level near $1,850 should hold in coming days to keep the momentum going. If it does, the next battle for ETH will be at the $1,900-$2,000 level and the crypto asset could see “much more upside potential” if it clears that overhead resistance. “In a straightforward comparison between BTC and ETH my preference goes to BTC as the relative comparison is in a clear uptrend and is about to take out its previous high to confirm that,” he said.
