The Trend Is Changing: Bitcoin Is Back on the Rise
Last Friday, February 4, BTC hit $40.000 for the first time since mid-January, trading around $41.500 at the weekend. On Monday, the growth continued, and the first cryptocurrency crossed the mark of $43.000. On Tuesday, it reached $45.000, updating a monthly high, and quickly fell back to $43.000.
On Thursday night, Bitcoin again stormed above $45.000. However, by Friday morning, February 11, it was trading around $43.000. Weekly Bitcoin (BTC) growth to this point was more than 15%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Analyst Opinions: Reasons for BTC Growth
Among the main reasons for breaking the trend, analysts call strong support levels in the $30.000-40.000 range and large corporations’ money inflow into the market.
“Whales” Are Holding Back “Bears”
Glassnode analysts published a report stating that the recovery of BTC quotes from January lows occurred due to a sharp increase in the number of new addresses and the historical undervaluation detected in various metrics.
In particular, the $30.000 to $40.000 price range reached during the last correction has proven to be a sturdy support level three times in the past, as about 12.41% of the market supply of BTC was purchased by investors between $36.200 and $41.200.
Moreover, Santiment says this support level has grown significantly over the past month and a half because “mega-whales,” holders of more than 1.000 BTC, increased their investments in the first cryptocurrency by nearly 220.000 BTC (about $10 billion) during that period, taking advantage of its declining value. Analysts note that this was the most intense asset accumulation period since September 2019.
Corporate Sector Attention
Trader Nicholas Merten believes that Bitcoin’s recovery to $45.000 is caused by large corporations coming to the market. For example, the trader cited the purchase of Bitcoin and Ethereum by the Canadian division of the Big Four accounting firm KPMG. According to the analyst’s prediction, large investors will continue to buy cryptocurrencies, allowing the market to come out of the downward movement and return to growth.
Future Prospects for BTC Growth
Predictions about the further movement of the market can be divided into three categories: optimistic, realistic, and those we would like to believe in.
Optimistic Forecasts
Santiment analysts consider that the first cryptocurrency aims to achieve a new price record. As an argument, they point to the fact that address activity on the Tether (USDT) stablecoin network has declined to a record low in the past two years, which has always preceded the renewal of Bitcoin’s all-time high.
Predictions We Would Like to Believe In
Bloomberg’s Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone published a report claiming that BTC would hit $100.000 within the current growth cycle. In his opinion, the cryptocurrency is forming a stable “floor” at the moment. After this level is formed, the bitcoin rate will move towards the “ceiling.”
FSInsight analyst Sean Farrell predicts even more attractive numbers. According to him, the leading cryptocurrency’s value may reach $200.000 in the second half of 2022. Moreover, his report states that the Ethereum platform is undervalued — the price of its tokens may reach $12.000 this year.
Realistic Forecast
The analysts of investment bank JPMorgan attempted to give a realistic forecast. They believe that the fair price of Bitcoin is $38.000, and this figure directly depends on the volatility level. If the current volatility level decreases three times, the Bitcoin fair value will rise to $50.000.
Major Altcoin Successes
Three altcoins performed the most interesting results this week:
- Ripple (XRP). Over the past week, Ripple’s XRP token showed an increase of more than 30%. According to Santiment, such success is caused by a significant increase in the number of active addresses in the cryptocurrency’s network, starting in mid-January. Analysts say the XRP network is currently at a record high activity level, which was last seen in November 2021. In addition, analysts attribute the rise to the imminent resolution of a dispute between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A final hearing is set for February 17, and the company has a good chance of defending the thesis that the XRP token is not a security.
- Polygon (MATIC). The MATIC token has grown by more than 20% in the last seven days. The main reason is an investment from Sequoia Capital, an Indian subsidiary of the venture capital fund, which led a $450 million funding round for the project. The investment company is celebrating 50 years in business this year. It was able to see potential in the early stages of now famous corporations such as Google, Apple, Oracle, PayPal and many others.
- Axie Infinity (SLP). Over the past seven days, the Axie Infinity blockchain token SLP price has increased by almost 250%. The altcoin value began to rise sharply after the developers announced a change in the game’s rules. Players will no longer receive SLP tokens for completing daily quests and in adventure mode. According to the developers’ estimates, this measure will reduce the issuance of new SLP tokens by about 45 million daily.
Note that this is not all the crypto news over the past week. More updates can be found on our website and social networks daily!
