BTC Price Hits A High Of $ 57,000 In Five Months – 5 Things To Watch Out For In BTC This Week

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Bitcoin (BTC) is in top form – almost literally – as it heads into a new week below 15% of all-time highs.

A classic cocktail of factors laid the groundwork for a fourth-quarter final that analysts now confidently compare to the bulls of 2013 and 2017.

Decoupling from macro market movements and the US dollar, Bitcoin once again looks like the alternative to gold that investors want, while moving away from altcoins.

With “Uptober” still only in its second full week, Cointelegraph takes a look at what might await BTC price action over the next few days.

Altcoins lag behind the ‘Bitcoin season’

Things are looking good at the start of the week for Bitcoin traders – last week’s four-month highs are back and beaten.

With the exception of a curious anomaly on the Bitstamp exchange, which saw a momentary wick drop to $ 51,000, a quiet weekend preserved previous gains.

Now apparently lining up an attack on final resistance below all-time highs of $ 64,500, BTC price action is delighting market participants.

However, there is another aspect behind Bitcoin’s strength – one that could further preserve the upside in the short term.

Altcoins are underperforming, leading to predictions of a ‘Bitcoin season’ before some form of ‘alternate season’ reappears later. As Cointelegraph reported, it might not be until 2022.

The situation is particularly visible in Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, now at its lowest against BTC since early August.

“ETH / BTC collapses, while Bitcoin consolidates”, Michaël van de Poppe, Cointelegraph contributor abstract late Sunday.

“I guess Bitcoin is going on, while altcoins aren’t in the game yet.”

ETH / BTC 1 day candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Van de Poppe anyway added a contentious cycle price spike for ETH / USD of up to $ 20,000, with a timing of the first quarter of next year.

“You are the”

It takes a lot to please Bitcoiners when it comes to BTC price action.

As any longtime crypto dweller on Twitter knows, even the most unexpected moves in BTC / USD can only satisfy sentiment for so long before investors ask for more.

Last week was no exception – Bitcoin gained $ 3,000 in minutes, $ 5,000 in an hour, and peaked in four months, but days later commentators complained that it was “Bored”.

The weight of expectations for Bitcoin in 2021, the year following the third halving and therefore the deadline for a price top of the halving cycle, is palpable.

How far the price of BTC could rise is the subject of intense debate, and while some argue that $ 200,000 or even $ 300,000 is ‘programmed’, others are already losing confidence, claiming that this cycle will not. may not be like the last two.

However, the comparison of years after the halving appears to yield an almost unanimous verdict on Bitcoin’s odds – the main climb to an explosive high has yet to begin.

September’s fall below $ 40,000, for example, echoes similar events in 2013 and 2017. These occurred just before takeoff, acting as the “ultimate” bear trap.

Overlaying the price performance of 2021 over that of 2017 also produces strange similarities.

All of these results, taken from the popular TechDev trading account, indicate that this year’s peak is an order of magnitude higher than the last. Technical or not, argues the analyst, a six-figure high is anything but logically guaranteed.

Similarities, meanwhile, are not new, with various sources pointing to the extent of price compliance with previous years after the halving throughout 2021.

One day $ 31 billion settled

Much attention has been paid to the fundamentals of the Bitcoin network throughout the 2020-2021 bull run, but there is more.

With hash rate and difficulty nearly recovered and approaching all-time highs, new data shows other aspects of Bitcoin are setting their own records.

This week, it’s all about network capacity and scalability – all on-chain, even before the Lightning Network is considered.

As Noted By analyst Kevin Rooke, a single day last week saw Bitcoin manage over $ 30 billion in value.

“$ 31 billion. That’s the value that was settled on the Bitcoin blockchain in a single day this week,” he commented.

“This is a new all-time high for Bitcoin, and a 40-fold jump in settlement value since the start of 2020.”

Bitcoin daily trading volume graph. Source: Kevin Rooke / Twitter

The impressive transformation has been accompanied by cost consistency – Bitcoin transaction fees remain low.

Questions about GBTC

The countdown to a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) decision continues to excite this week – but is an approval already “built in?” “

As the US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has extended the deadline for deciding the fate of Bitcoin spot ETFs to November, this month will see a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ on ETF products backed by futures contracts.

These have garnered as much praise as criticism, while a question mark also hangs over the fate of existing Bitcoin institutional instruments, including the market heavyweight, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

Faced with a rapidly rising Bitcoin price, GBTC continues to trade with a significant discount to spot, and this trend has only intensified in recent weeks.

GBTC Premium card. Source: Bybt

If ETFs get the green light, analysts argue that more and more capital will flow into them, long before Grayscale itself converts its funds to ETFs.

For macro analyst Lyn Alden, the chances of the so-called “grayscale premium” even returning to neutral territory seem slim.

“I doubt it, but it’s not impossible that this could happen if there is a huge rally in bitcoin and no ETFs available at that time,” she said. responded when asked in a social media chat over the weekend.

Alden was updating research from last year in which she highlighted the GBTC’s role in Bitcoin price action. The relative absence of the phenomenon today, she says, is conversely positive for the sustainability of BTC price performance.

Enduring greed?

For those concerned that the return to four-month highs will be accompanied by market instability, think again.

Related: Top 5 Cryptocurrencies To Watch This Week: BTC, DOT, UNI, LINK, XMR

According to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index sentiment indicator, the latest BTC price hike is firmly anchored in sustainable growth.

This contrasts with the norm – moves to highs, and especially near all-time highs, tend to see the index reach “extreme greed”. This in turn suggests an unsustainable market which is easy to destabilize, causing prices to correct.

So far, while close to $ 57,000, Fear & Greed measures only 71/100 – “greed” rather than “extreme greed” and still far from the classic upper zone of 95/100 and above.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index as of October 11. Source: Alternative.me

The month of October nonetheless produced significant changes in sentiment. On September 30, for example, just two weeks ago, the index measured 20/100 – “extreme fear”.