Autor Cointelegraph By William Suberg

Bitcoin (BTC) saw a fresh spike to near $45,000 overnight into March 27 as the weekend looked set to deliver a decisively bullish close. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingViewWeekly close of key importanceData from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD grinding back to higher levels seen days previously after a rejection at just above the $45,000 mark.While still within its extended trading range with $46,000 as its ceiling, the pair was still firmly on the radar of long-term traders as the weekly close drew near, this being apt to be Bitcoin’s highest of the year so far.BTC/USD 1-week candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingViewPopular trader and analyst Rekt Capital added that Bitcoin’s 21-week exponential moving average (EMA) was also in line for a flip as resistance — something which had served bulls well in 2021.#BTC is positioning itself well for a breakout Weekly Close beyond a key Bull Market EMA (21-week EMA)$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/HmmfCkOxiP— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) March 26, 2022Some were not convinced of the strength of current levels, however. Among them was fellow trader and analyst Crypto Ed, who cautioned that buying into long-term resistance nearly the $46,000 yearly open made little sense in terms of risk/ reward ratio.Try to convince me, spot buying into resistance right here is a bad idea. You won’t succeed with this kind of R:R. You might get an entry a bit lower but you might miss also a brutal break out and never get your retest. Max risk is 1R Reward is 4.9R pic.twitter.com/E7wo0MC0pB— Ed_NL (@Crypto_Ed_NL) March 26, 2022

As Cointelegraph reported, others had already argued that a more significant trend breakout was necessary for Bitcoin in order for them to flip overall bullish and take on long positions.Spot demand soothes market observersMeanwhile, on-chain research revealed that it was spot markets, not derivatives, that were at the helm over the past week.Related: ProShares ETF’s Bitcoin stash hits $1.27B as BTC eyes $50K by mid-AprilThis was bullish in itself, Glassnode co-founders Yann Allemann and Jan Happel argued on Twitter this weekend, since historically, sustained upside had been driven by spot demand.Looks like the move to $44k was led by spot demand. Every sustained #BTC bullish move is led by the spot market. pic.twitter.com/b72KYwZVLr— (@Negentropic_) March 26, 2022

Derivatives themselves provided little cause for concern, however, as funding rates stayed neutral to negative despite the advance towards the top of Bitcoin’s trading range.

Bitcoin (BTC) took a breather from its latest upside on March 26 after predicted resistance kicked in just under the yearly open.BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingViewBitcoin fakeouts: Third time’s the charm?Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD lingering around $44,500 Saturday, preserving the lion’s share of the week’s progress.Traders had sounded the alarm on a possible retracement after a large sell wall appeared on major exchange Bitfinex. In the event, sell-side pressure prevailed, halting bulls’ advance at just above $45,000.”Still waiting to see how price trades around yearly open. The prev times I targeted it we came up short but got very close although this time looks better for BTC. Almost there,” popular trader Pentoshi summarized.Fellow Twitter user B C Richfield meanwhile highlighted the need to crack the current local high of $45,135, after two “fakeouts” on lower timeframes. A failure to do so, he argued prior to the high occurring, would be bad news.$BTCTwo Fakeys (fake breakout) on the last 4H inside bar.I think we see a breakout towards 45135 before a decisive correction or reclaim attempt.A third Fakey would be brutal but definitely not beyond Bitcoins capabilities.Happy Friday everyone – have a great weekend ☀️ pic.twitter.com/QN5oHr5EAh— B C Richfield (@BC_Richfield) March 25, 2022Another topic of debate from the week, that of Blockchain protocol Terra’s multibillion-dollar Bitcoin buy-in, continued, executives adding roughly another 3,000 BTC to a wallet now containing 24,954 BTC ($1.1 billion).Media attention and excitement increased in step, with analytics firm Messari highlighting “increased usage and fundamentals” as driving the price of Terra’s LUNA token while other smart contract tokens traded down.LUNA/USD was nonetheless in the same position it traded at last weekend at the time of writing, while both Bitcoin and largest altcoin Ether (ETH) were up over 6% during the same period. Fees remain a bargainFor all the focus on a turnaround coming from within the crypto industry, however, for the mainstream, Bitcoin remained firmly under the radar.Related: After years of doubts and concerns, it is finally Bitcoin’s time to shineIn addition to Google Trends data showing an ongoing lull, analyst Benjamin Cowen noted that Bitcoin’s low transaction fees underscored a lack of activity.”To some degree, Bitcoin transaction fees tell you what you need to know,” he said.”Clearly the tourists are gone at the moment. But they will return. They always do.”Bitcoin total transaction fees chart. Source: BlockchainThe views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin (BTC) was up nearly 5% in 24 hours at the Wall Street open on March 25, but a new warning sign was giving traders cold feet.BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingViewBitfinex whale flips to sell modeData from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed BTC/USD hitting multi-week highs of $45,137 Friday as Wall Street got underway.As $45,000 reappeared for the first time since the start of the month, however, so did all-too-familiar behavior among some of Bitcoin’s biggest investors.Attention turned to exchange Bitfinex on the day, a platform famous for large-volume traders, or whales, guiding short-term price action with their trades.As noted by popular trader Pentoshi, the entity which had purchased BTC at the last low near $34,000 had now put in a significant ask position beginning at $45,000.The finex whale who made the bottom (same signature) just showed up with a lot of asks presumably to close out those 34k longs. Something to watch in the coming days $BTC pic.twitter.com/gDR8qvBVEl— Pentoshi (@Pentosh1) March 25, 2022 Blockware lead insights analyst William Clemente agreed, telling Twitter users that it was now “popcorn time” for the market.For Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe meanwhile flagged “a dozen” possible lower price targets should BTC/USD sweep liquidity at previous rejection points from March, these also lying just above $45,000.”I’m not saying I’m bearish at this stage, but while we’re making this build-up, I’m not really interested into longs at this point,” he said in his latest YouTube update.Only a rechallenge of $50,000, he added, would form the impetus to consider long positions.”No longs” on Ethereum, says tradeVan de Poppe added that altcoins were also on the radar and that it would be interesting to see how Ether (ETH) in particular deals with upcoming resistance.Related: What are the BTC price levels to watch as Bitcoin nears March peak?The top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap showed clear copycat strength on daily timeframes, led by ETH/USD which matched Bitcoin’s 5% gains. Overall still watching how #Bitcoin is going to react at resistance, and especially how $ETH will handle it there.Not a long area for me. pic.twitter.com/NalEyg6Jiu— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) March 25, 2022

Cardano (ADA), while dropping several percentage points on the day, was still up 35% compared to the same time last week, making it the top-ten’s best performer.ADA/USD 1-day candle chart (Coinbase). Source: TradingView

Bitcoin (BTC) closed in on its highest level of the month on March 25 with traders hoping for an end to months of consolidation.BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingViewTerra BTC stash nears $1 billionData from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD cementing recent gains to hit $44,698 on Bitstamp Friday. With that, the pair was under $1,000 away from cracking the monthly high around $45,330.For traders, the yearly open at $46,000 was now of increasing importance.$46k is the most important price for #Bitcoin to break through in a very long time— Matthew Hyland (@MatthewHyland_) March 24, 2022Crypto Ed, however, even suggested that on the strength of the breakthrough of lower resistance levels, $46,000 may not end up a successful bet.”What happens usually at such an obvious resistance? BTC bursts through, fueled by a short squeeze. Those waiting for 46k to break are likely to be left behind. 3rd time is a charm,” he commented alongside a chart.BTC/USD annotated chart. Source: Crypto Ed/ TwitterBuy-ins from Blockchain protocol Terra for its new stablecoin, a source of bullish sentiment this week, continued, its wallet containing 21,323 BTC ($947 million) at the time of writing.Interest in the move was palpable, not least given that the largest corporate BTC treasury, that of MicroStrategy, contained just over 125,000 BTC. Should Terra fulfill its goal to back its TerraUSD stablecoin with $10 billion in Bitcoin, the firm would ultimately own around 224,400 BTC — twice as much.Praise be to the whales?For Filbfilb, co-founder of trading suite Decentrader, there was cause for optimism that this slow grind towards resistance could endure, unlike previous attempts to end the sideways action.Related: Bitcoin hash rate may see ‘small capitulation’ with difficulty set for new all-time high”After what felt like an eternal sideways grind, Bitcoin has now been trending up the past couple of weeks as most of the market remains in disbelief on this near-term rally,” he began in a market update Friday. “It appears whales had other intentions though, and we have seen a steady consistent bid for Bitcoin ever since this significant wall of bids appeared over at Bitfinex at $37,000.”Filbfilb continued that Bitfinex whales had made a clear statement by putting in buy-support at $37,000 during a consolidation period, and with that, the odds were on for a trip to the resistance wall around $46,000.”Why is this so significant? Because for years now, Bitfinex has been used by Bitcoin whales to push $BTC price around using these bid / ask walls. So when price and sentiment are at extremes, it is always worth paying attention to the order books at Bitfinex to see when these big walls appear,” he continued.”It is also worth noting that while it could get pulled, the next major wall is currently sitting at $45,500-$46,000.”Should the yearly open no longer constitute the psychological ceiling for Bitcoin, the 200-day moving average near $47,900 would be the next port of call, the update added.

Bitcoin (BTC) continued to fight for $43,000 support at the Wall Street open on March 24 amid fresh jitters tied to United States economic policy.BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingViewKashkari warns of “overdoing it” on hikesData from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD staying just below the $43,000 mark as trading began Thursday.At the time of writing, U.S. markets were still in the process of steadying in their first hour, these of particular importance to Bitcoin traders given the considerable positive correlation between BTC and equities. This week, it emerged that the correlation between BTC/USD and the S&P 500, for example, had hit its highest in nearly 18 months.Back in focus on the day was the Federal Reserve. In a widely reported Q&A session, Neel Kashkari, President of the Minneapolis Fed, revealed that there could be up to seven key rate hikes this year.While potentially not all necessary, he explained, the Fed needed to deal with the issue of inflation.”There’s a danger to overdoing it. We’re going to get information,” he said, quoted by Reuters.Attempts to tighten monetary policy nonetheless showed their impact on bonds markets, these coming down 11% from their all-time highs in the steepest retracement since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, markets commentator Holger Zschaepitz noted.Global bond sell-off intensifies w/Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index down almost 11% from ATH and so deep in correction territory for 1st time since GFC. pic.twitter.com/O62L67k27K— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) March 24, 2022Bitcoin in turn could see “headwinds” to come, Bloomberg Intelligence chief commodity strategist Mike McGlone added in a Twitter post.”Long risk assets may be fighting the Fed, among the riskiest — Bitcoin — faces headwinds as rate-hike expectations rise,” he wrote.”Akin to 2020, when trading in the decentralized crypto network was relatively fluid vs. halts and limits in equity futures, Bitcoin is proving its value.”An accompanying chart showed what McGlone warned could be a repeat of Bitcoin’s 2018 bear market — rates rising while BTC/USD comes down from a macro top.BTC/USD vs. Fed funds futures chart. Source: Mike McGlone/ TwitterBTC price claws back key moving averageAs Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin price action had been buoyed throughout the week by high-profile buy-ins from Blockchain protocol Terra.Related: Bitcoin ‘could easily see $30K’ with stocks due to 30% drawdown in 2022 — AnalystInitially tipped to see $3 billion of BTC purchased, the first three transactions of $125 million each coincided with BTC/USD hitting its highest in over three weeks.The purchasing was nonetheless questioned by some, among them statistician Willy Woo, who argued that their scale would be unlikely to make any significant difference given Bitcoin’s liquidity.It’s only 2 BTC per minute. BTC’s liquidity even in bear markets can easily swallow that in seconds, and that’s on a single leading spot market, not even spreading it across multiple exchanges.— Willy Woo (@woonomic) March 24, 2022

Nonetheless, traders were palpably more confident on the day, as Bitcoin saw its first closes over its 100-day moving average for almost four months.BTC/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView