Bitcoin prices have retained much of their recent gains today. (Photo illustration by Chesnot/Getty ... [+]
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Bitcoin prices have maintained their strength over the past 24 hours, retaining the vast majority of the gains that materialized during the cryptocurrency's latest rally.
The world's largest digital currency by total market capitalization was trading above $65,000 at the time of writing, according to CoinMarketCap Data.
The digital asset held that value after rising more than 8% in less than 24 hours, hitting its highest level since around April 24 and then extending those gains, additional figures from CoinMarketCap show.
Focusing on bitcoin's near-term outlook, several market observers highlighted key fundamental developments that could impact the price of the digital asset, as well as pointing to price levels that could provide key support or resistance.
Brett Sifling, investment advisor at Gerber Kawasaki Investment and Wealth Managementoffered some contributions on this situation.
“Bitcoin has been range-bound since late February as the halving event was not enough to push it to new highs,” he stated via emailed comments.
“I don't see any other major catalysts on the horizon other than increased institutional adoption. There is also the possibility that the Federal Reserve will lower rates later this year, which could lead to greater optimism for risk assets like Bitcoin,” Sifling said, referring to the federal funds rate, which is controlled by Federal Reserve policymakers.
Decisions by the Federal Open Market Committee have generated quite a bit of visibility in recent years, as these government officials raised the federal funds rate, which has an impact on broader borrowing costs, to its highest level since 2008.
This, in turn, has been a major drag on economic activity, but inflation data has remained stubbornly high at many points despite high borrowing costs.
Yesterday, headline inflation numbers missing economists' estimates were cited as a catalyst that helped bitcoin prices rise. This development was credited with helping to raise investors' hopes that the Federal Reserve would cut rates soon.
Technical analysis
As for key price levels that technical traders should monitor going forward, Sifling offered some guidance.
"The recent all-time highs in March of around ~$74,000 are a key level to watch, as are the lows of this recent range of ~$56,500," he said.
Grant Tungate, head of business development at Block Force Capitalalso sheds some light on this matter.
"I don't want to make any predictions, but I will make some comments about the levels that I think are important," he said by email.
“The key levels are the new 30-day high ~$67.3k, then the all-time high ~$74k. On the downside, the 30-day low ~$57,000 is an important zone,” Tungate added, pointing to similar numbers to those identified by Sifling.
Armando Aguilar, independent cryptocurrency analyst, also offered some contributions on this topic.
“The next critical support level for BTC remains in the high range of $62,000, if BTC struggles to maintain these levels, it could retest the low range of $61,000,” he stated.
“Resistance levels for BTC are in the mid-$66,000 range, which if broken, we could see the blue-chip cryptocurrency reach a mid/high $68,000 level,” Aguilar added.
“The ATH provides a key resistance level that would require BTC inflows to increase as was the case for the first 2 months since its launch. “Let us not immediately see levels surpassing the ATH as most custodians have reached maximum distribution capacity, so they see low inflows into BTC,” he concluded.
Disclosure: I have some bitcoins, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether, EOS and sol.
