Bitcoin popped to start the new year as eager investors drove the price to nearly $46,000 on Tuesday. The rally began late Monday night and quickly pushed the cryptocurrency above $45,000. It hit a high of $45,913.30, a level not seen since April 2022. While bitcoin ended 2023 with a brief pause in its overall uptrend, it still posted its fourth positive month in a row and a 157% gain for the year. The next stop on the way to a new all-time high is between $48,000 and $50,000, chart analysts told CNBC. “Bitcoin is breaking away from a three-week consolidation pattern which usually causes an acceleration in the direction of the break, i.e. higher,” said Julius de Kempenaer, senior technical analyst at StockCharts.com. That means bitcoin shouldn’t spend too long at its new level, he added. BTC.CM= 1D mountain Bitcoin rallying to start 2024 Wolfe Research’s Rob Ginsberg said the reacceleration following the recent consolidation is “very encouraging action” and that he “would expect an overbought signal and consolidation to develop” between $48,000 and $50,000. De Kempenaer said bitcoin should hold $45,000 for the next day or two for the breakout to be confirmed and for the price to become bitcoin’s new support level. Even with small pullbacks in sight, investors have high hopes for bitcoin in 2024. In the first half of the year, a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund is expected to be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The bitcoin halving that typically precedes strong gains in the price will take place just a couple months later. Some on Wall Street have expressed concern that the market reaction should an ETF get greenlit may not live up to the hype that has driven the crypto market for the past six months, and that the market could correct all the way down to $32,000. Nevertheless, traders broadly remain optimistic on the long-term view of the asset class. But first, bitcoin has to reach $48,000, de Kempenaer said. Bitcoin hasn’t traded above $48,000 in about two years, according to Coin Metrics.
