Traders delay $100K Bitcoin prediction, but still expect a blow-off top in 2022

Published at: Dec. 18, 2021

Bullish traders that drank the "Bitcoin to $100,000 by year-end" Kool-Aid are now coming to terms with the fact that there may be no Santa Claus rally to wrap up 2021. At the moment, the pipe dream has morphed into simple hopes that the top cryptocurrency can at least finish the year above $50,000. 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the bounce in price seen in BTC following remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has pretty much evaporated and over the past 48-hours the price has swept fresh lows at $45,500 and from the look of things, the price could drop even further.

Here’s a look at what traders think about Bitcoin's current price action and what could be in store for the remainder of 2021.

Bitcoin's consolidation mirrors May's price action

Pseudonymous Twitter analyst, ‘Rekt Capital’, compared the current price action to the consolidation seen in May through July.

Rekt Captial said,

“BTC is still consolidating inside these two key bull market EMAs. Just like in May 2021 (yellow circle).”

If a similar pattern were to play out, the price of BTC could continue to consolidate and drift lower for another 6 to 8 weeks before resuming its uptrend.

$44,000 could be the "bottom"

A similar scenario was forecast by Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, who posted the following chart outlining a rough sketch of how BTC price action could unfold over the next couple of months.

Based on the chart provided, van de Poppe sees the possibility of another drawdown to the $44,000 range which will be followed by a return to the current levels for a brief consolidation period and then a resumption of the uptrend.

Related: Analyst lists 21 factors calling for Bitcoin price upside — But just 4 bearish signals

Swings in sentiment don’t change the underlying strength

A final bit of insight came from cryptocurrency analyst ‘TechDev’, who posted the following chart detailing a more macro view of BTC's price action after each halving cycle.

TechDev identified two previous instances where BTC price saw intense periods of volatility only to be followed by a late stage rally and blow-off top scenario to a new all-time high.

TechDev said,

“Despite multiple swings in sentiment over the last 2 weeks, Bitcoin is in the same macro position.”

Follow-up tweets and responses pointed to a generally bullish outlook for BTC in the long term for TechDev, who stated that “all eyes on the retracement levels.”

The 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.

Tags
Related Posts
Bitcoin jumps to $49K amid fears of 5%-plus inflation is here to stay
Bitcoin (BTC) inched higher on Saturday as the focus shifted to the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) policy meeting in the wake of lower inflation numbers last Tuesday. The BTC/USD exchange rate approached $49,000 on the Coinbase exchange, hitting $48,825 before turning lower on interim profit-taking sentiment. Nonetheless, the move uphill raised expectations that the pair would hit $50,000, a psychological resistance target, in the coming sessions. #bitcoin needs to get over $50,000 and just hold it. — David Gokhshtein (@davidgokhshtein) September 18, 2021 Inflation fears boost Bitcoin demand The Bitcoin markets received a boost from fears of persistently higher …
Bitcoin / Sept. 18, 2021
Is excessive bullish optimism behind Bitcoin’s drop below $60K?
Bitcoin (BTC) has a long history of forming local tops when events that are anticipated by the market occur. The recent Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) launch on Oct. 19 was no different and led to a 53% monthly rally to an all-time high at $67,000. Now that the price has briefly fallen below $60,000, investors are attempting to understand if the 10% correction was a healthy short-term profit taking or the end of the bull run. To determine this, traders need to analyze BTC's previous price activity to evaluate the possible similarities. The chart above depicts the day of a …
Etf / Oct. 24, 2021
This key Bitcoin price indicator shows pro traders buying each dip
Bitcoin (BTC) might have failed to sustain the $42,000 support, and for many, this is a slightly bearish sign. Interestingly, the downward move occurred shortly after Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s largest oil exporter, denied having claimed to start mining Bitcoin. Top traders at exchanges seized the opportunity to add leverage-long positions, a clear bullishness indicator. Furthermore, margin traders have been increasing their stablecoin borrowing, indicating that whales and professional traders are expecting more upside from cryptocurrencies. The 24% weekly rally that took Bitcoin from $34,000 to its highest level since May 20 was fueled by a 30% surge in the …
Bitcoin / Aug. 3, 2021
Analyst says Bitcoin could see ‘a smaller drawdown and a quicker bottom'
The cryptocurrency faithful got a reprieve from recent market struggles thanks to a rally in decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens and Dogecoin (DOGE) on June 2. A bit of a breakout in the price of Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) may have also lifted sentiment, but at the moment, the top-ranked digital assets are still meeting pushback at key overhead resistance levels. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of Bitcoin rallied 7.3% from a low of $35,645 on June 1 to an intraday high at $38,250 on June 2, and Ether saw a similar-sized gain of …
Bitcoin / June 2, 2021
Bears scattered as Bitcoin hit $40K, but pro traders remain cautious
Bitcoin (BTC) traders might be feeling extra euphoric after the recent 35% rally, but data suggests bears are not too worried because a similar breakout took place in mid-July and the price failed to hold the $40,000 support. To understand how bullish investors are this time around, let's take apart the derivatives data and look at the futures contracts premium and options skew. Typically, these indicators reveal how professional traders are pricing the odds of a potential retrace to $36,000. Even though the pattern isn't exactly similar, Bitcoin crashed to $31,000 on June 8 and bounced to $41,000 six days …
Bitcoin / July 29, 2021