Following a three-week sharp decline, the price of Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency by market capitalization, rose above $17,000 on January 8th. The bulls appear to be in control, and the gains are being corrected, indicating a bullish trend.
BTC traded within a narrow band for 21 days (three weeks), with the peak value reaching a mere $16,900 above the lower bound of $16,400. According to the data from CoinMarketcap, BTC reached its daily high yesterday at $17,389.96 and is currently trading at $17,309.21, with only a slight uptick in the previous day and a 4.2% rise over the last seven days.
The $17,350 resistance is just around BTC’s price. Moving up from this point, if it surpasses the $17,400 zone, it could see itself shooting past the $17,500 barrier as well. Such a breakthrough may then lead to an even higher potential of reaching the peak at $18,000.
On the other hand, the prices may face a crucial resistance near the $17,200 mark. A downside break of this level could further extend its downward correction, where immediate support may be located at $17,150. Further support could exist at a key area near the $17,000 mark or below the trend line. If breached, we may expect a possible test to reoccur around $16,800.
Bitcoin 2022 Performance Raises Concerns For 2023
After surviving a year of intense losses, cryptocurrencies have seen the beginning of 2023 with steady optimism. The total global cryptocurrency market capitalization has risen by 5% since January 1st to an impressive $871 billion, although it was still below its position one year ago.
Additionally, despite the volatility that is commonly associated with Bitcoin markets, the currency has shown a degree of resilience during the first week of 2023, recovering 5%. Even during the challenges faced in 2022, the volatility of BTC has decreased in recent months to reach multi-year lows at 24.6%.
Reuters reported today that according to data from Refinitiv Eikon, despite being the largest cryptocurrency, the recent 7-day volatility of BTC has dropped to levels not seen in over three years.
While Vetle Lunde, a senior analyst at Arcane Research, suggests that investors should be patient as they do not anticipate prices reaching their previous all-time highs in the upcoming year of 2023.
However, following the 2022 bitcoin bloodbath, subdued sounds fairly nice to certain market participants. Investment analyst at investment platform eToro, Callie Cox, said:
I feel encouraged by the floor we’ve seen forming under bitcoin, it shows there’s a lot of demand around $16,000 and $17,000 levels.
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