Bitcoin faces do-or-die weekly, monthly close with macro bull trend at stake

bitcoin (BTC) is leaving traders guessing as the future of the bull market depends on the last week of February.

In multiple tweets on Feb. 17, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital pointed to crucial resistance battles underway in BTC/USD over multiple time frames.

Bitcoin Price Adjusts to Bear Market Downtrend

Bitcoin hit new six-month highs this week as the last few entries of its 2023 rally kept the bullish-bearish debate raging.

After a consolidating start to the month, February has become a reckoning point for Bitcoin price strength. Gains have been harder to cement than in January, when the BTC/USD pair finished nearly 40% down.

For Rekt Capital, now is the time to pay attention, whether trading on daily, weekly or even monthly time frames.

The weekly chart perhaps represents the biggest struggle in the wake of the 2022 bear market. Bitcoin is currently trying to break through an area of โ€‹โ€‹resistance that it failed to conquer last August, so far without success.

โ€œUltimately, a weekly close above this key area is what BTC must achieve to break this confluent area of โ€‹โ€‹resistance to continue moving higher,โ€ Rekt Capital wrote in part from an update on the weekly chart.

The picture is complicated by two other major resistance trend lines at the top, which come in the form of the 50 and 200-week moving averages (MAs).

As Cointelegraph reported, these have they formed their first "death cross" โ€“ a potential nail in the coffin for those waiting for a new bull market to begin.

On monthly time frames, an equally tense situation is unfolding. Here, too, BTC/USD is โ€œvery close to breaking the macro downtrend,โ€ says Rekt Capital.

The upcoming monthly close will be the deciding factor, as continued strength could see Bitcoin kick off in March. outside a descending trend line from the November 2021 all-time highs.

While this would be a significant event, certain signs are already suggest that could come true. Bitcoin's RSI, previously at all-time lows, "has already confirmed a new uptrend."

BTC Price Analysis: Whales Targeting โ€œBull Market Maxisโ€

Closer to home, intraday activity remains tantalizingly opaque as Bitcoin bulls hold on to a piece of the week's high.

Related: Bitcoin metric prints 'mother of all BTC bullish signals' for fourth time in history

However, two trips above $25,000 failed to make a resistance support flip and at the time of writing, BTC/USD was trading around $24,500, according to data from Cointelegraph Pro Markets and TradingView presented.

BTC/USD 1 hour candlestick chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Although Rekt Capital is celebrating a confirmed breakout, others fear the entire episode was the result of market whale manipulation.

When analyzing the order book activity on Binance, the monitoring of the material indicators of the resources seemed to have no doubts about the spurious nature of the current price โ€œstrengthโ€.

Whales have been moving supply support higher, creating the illusion of a "bull market breakout."

"We already have 2 rejections so if they get it it's a bonus", Material Indicators wrote on the twin moves above $25,000.

"In my opinion, the goal was to increase the spread range and reduce the demand for liquidity to the highs of the bull market."

An accompanying order book chart captured the action, along with declining whale volumes as the spot price rose, a phenomenon recently dubbed โ€œwhale divergenceโ€ by Material Indicators.

Data from the BTC/USD (Binance) order book. Source: Material Indicators/ Twitter

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