Bitcoin will cross the $40,000 level sooner than most people think, according to cryptocurrency analysts.
Kaleo, a prominent anonymous crypto analyst, told his 569,500 followers on Twitter that the benchmark token had been experiencing a strong bullish movement over the past week, adding that the bullish momentum would persist in the near future.
This is your daily reminder $40K Bitcoin is still a magnet.
— K A L E O (@CryptoKaleo) March 17, 2023
Michaël van de Poppe, CEO of Dutch crypto firm Eight, shared a similar opinion. He said the crypto movement on Wednesday indicated a rally to $40,000 per token was possible. Van de Poppe explained that the bill to propose Bitcoin mining in the U.S. might have fueled the rally. However, he said Bitcoin price might retrace momentarily before continuing its upturn.
Many analysts said the token could reach a new height this year after rallying up to 70 percent since the beginning of 2023. Gemini chief strategy officer Marshall Beard even predicted the possibility of Bitcoin hitting $100,000 — significantly higher than the token's all-time high value of $68,990.90 in November 2021. Beard predicted that if the token could get close to its previous record high, it would not take "much" for Bitcoin to get to the $100,000 level.
The new outlook was more positive than earlier in January. At that time, crypto industry executives cautioned the market that 2023 could be a volatile year for Bitcoin and the industry in general.
The move from $30K to $40K $BTC is going to happen a lot quicker than most people think.
— K A L E O (@CryptoKaleo) March 22, 2023
Plenty of people who *want* to be bulls, but are waiting for a dip will be left watching from the sidelines.
Industry experts said the optimism partially resulted from the recent banking crisis, which began with the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The regional lender mostly served tech startups and had significant exposure to crypto. However, instead of crashing like initially anticipated, Bitcoin rallied during the crisis.
Bitcoin proponents said the rally showed the token's position as a safe alternative to the traditional banking system.
"I think the rally is explicable by saying, people have got freaked out by the banking system by the collapses," Oliver Linch, CEO of crypto exchange Bittrex Global, said.
Bitcoin traded at around $27,700 on Thursday, falling by three percent compared to the day before. The coin price was above $28,500 on Wednesday. The tumble followed the announcement of a 25-basis-point rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Analysts warned that recession fears, which were reignited by the banking crisis, could have a negative influence on risk markets like crypto. The increase in Bitcoin price was partially attributed to the weakening dollar. Bitcoin will face price pressures if the dollar rallies, which can happen when investors opt to put their funds into the lower-risk asset due to recession fears.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around the $28,300 level.
Altcoin updates
Altcoins mostly rallied on the market late Thursday. Solana's price ranged around $22.04, Cardano was at $0.36 and BNB was at $327.01. ADA and XRP also rose to $0.367 and $0.44, respectively.
If we're going to see any type of *mini* alt szn this run, it probably happens here.
— K A L E O (@CryptoKaleo) March 21, 2023
BTC.D is testing the upper resistance of the channel it's been chopping in the past two years.
A slight pullback here - resulting in a little alt rally across the board makes sense. pic.twitter.com/ukDP4aK0M0
Kaleo warned that Bitcoin dominance could influence altcoins' price movements, as they would lose value relative to Bitcoin when the benchmark token picked up its bullish momentum.
Crypto analytics firm TradingView reported that BTC dominance hovered around 46.99 percent on Thursday. Kaleo suggested that Bitcoin was heading for over 52 percent dominance level but might plunge before reaching that critical level. The analyst added that altcoins could rally when Bitcoin dominance ranged from 47 to 52 percent.
Kaleo advised investors whose portfolios were heavy in altcoins to consider rebalancing their holdings by exchanging their altcoins for Bitcoin. He said it could help them avoid losses in case of price declines in altcoins as the probability of bullish Bitcoin was higher.