Bitcoin (BTC) targeted fresh all-time highs at the Dec. 16 Wall Street open as the US TradFi trading week opened with a pop.
BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
BTC price demands new record high
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView captured a BTC price spike of nearly $2,000 in a single hourly candle.
In contrast to previous weekly opens, markets appeared to react positively to news that business intelligence firm MicroStrategy had added yet more BTC to its corporate treasury. The latest purchase was worth $1.5 billion in BTC, taking the firm’s holdings to 439,000 BTC ($46.38 billion).
Commenting on its moves, trading firm QCP Capital suggested that MicroStrategy’s inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 index last week could form the basis for future BTC capital raises.
“This inclusion could trigger passive fund inflows into MicroStrategy shares, indirectly enabling the company to raise funds more easily for acquiring Bitcoin,” it argued in a post to Telegram channel subscribers.
MicroStrategy stock vs. BTC price (screenshot). Source: MSTR Tracker
Short-timeframe BTC price volatility continued following Bitcoin’s highest weekly close on record. Analyzing exchange order book behavior, popular trader Skew highlighted spot buyers still being interested at current levels, just inches from all-time highs.
“Spot demand starts from $98K & lower but likely to see that bid liquidity to move higher with market momentum / strength,” he wrote in one of his latest posts on X.
Skew noted ask liquidity forming between $108,000 and $111,000, something which could form a new short-term price focus next.
“$600M + in short positioning closed out with price above $104K,” he added about Binance derivatives.
“For continuation from here it's important to see spot buying & momentum above $104K.”
BTC/USDT derivatives data for Binance. Source: Skew/X
Zooming out further, popular analytics account Bitcoindata21 eyed signals from whales on exchange Kraken over where a longer-term consolidation range might begin.
The area in question focused around $150,000.
“Kraken whales are starting to tell us where bitcoin price is going to slow down in the coming months. Some sell orders above, that could be similar to those that stopped price appreciation earlier this year,” it told X followers on the day.
“The more stacked the asks become in that range, the more chance of slowing down momentum.”
XBT/USDT futures on Kraken. Source: Bitcoindata21/X
Bitcoin breaks away from major altcoins
Continuing, fellow trader Roman suggested that once BTC/USD hits a round-number target, altcoins could steal the limelight more sustainably.
“Likely see liquidity start to rotate to $alts once $BTC breaks 120/130k,” part of a new X post states.
“The same logic as when $BTC broke 40k in 2020 $alt season started.”
ETH/BTC 1-week chart. Source: Roman/X
Bitcoin led the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap in terms of daily gains at the time of writing, diverging significantly from large-cap altcoins, which were moderately down in US dollar terms.
Ether (ETH) was the only exception, being up 1.2% at around $3,950.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
