Bitcoin (BTC) has traders guessing as the future of the bull market hinges on the last week of February.
In multiple tweets on Feb. 17, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital pointed to crucial resistance battles lasting for multiple timeframes in BTC/USD.
Bitcoin price coincides with bear market downtrend
Bitcoin hit new six-month highs this week as the recent innings of its 2023 recovery kept the bull-bear debate alive.
After a consolidating start to the month, February has become a gauge of bitcoin price strength. Gains were harder to cement than in January when BTC/USD rallied nearly 40%.
Now is the time for Rekt Capital to pay attention – whether on the daily, weekly or even monthly timeframe.
The weekly chart represents perhaps the biggest struggle after the 2022 bear market. Bitcoin is currently attempting to break through a resistance area it failed to conquer last August, so far without success.
“Ultimately, a weekly close above this key area is what BTC needs to achieve in order to break through this confluence area of resistance and continue moving higher,” according to Rekt Capital wrote Part of an update of the weekly chart.
Complicating the picture are two other major resistance trend lines lying above it, which come in the form of the 50-week and 200-week moving averages (MAs).
As Cointelegraph reported, these have formed their first-ever “death cross” — a potential nail in the coffin for those hoping for a new bull market to begin.
On a monthly basis, an equally tense situation is developing. Again, BTC/USD is “very close to breaking the macro downtrend,” says Rekt Capital.
The upcoming monthly close will be the deciding factor as Bitcoin could start March on continued strength Outside a falling trendline that has existed since the all-time highs of November 2021.
While this would be a significant event, there are already certain signs recommend that it could become a reality. Bitcoin’s Relative Strength Index (RSI), formerly at all-time lows, “has already confirmed a new bullish trend.”
BTC Price Analysis: Whales Target “Bull Market Maxis”
Closer to home, intraday activity remains tantalizingly opaque as bitcoin bulls hold onto part of the week’s uptrend.
Related: The Bitcoin metric is issuing the “mother of all BTC bullish signals” for the fourth time ever
Two trips above $25,000 still failed to result in a resistance-support flip, and at the time of writing, BTC/USD is trading around $24,500, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed.
BTC/USD 1 Hour Candlestick Chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
While Rekt is Capital celebrate a confirmed outbreak, others remain concerned that the entire episode was the result of manipulation by market whales.
Analyzing order book activity on Binance and monitoring resource material indicators seemed to have no doubts about the false nature of the current price “strength”.
Whales have moved supply support higher creating the illusion of a “bull market breakout”.
“We already have 2 cancellations so if they get it it’s a bonus,” Material Indicators wrote about the twin moves over $25,000.
“In my view, the goal was to increase distribution range and lower ask liquidity to bull market maxima.”
An accompanying order book chart captured the action, along with whale volumes declining as the spot price rose – a phenomenon Material Indicators recently dubbed “Whale divergence.”
BTC/USD order book data (Binance). Source: Material Indicators/ Twitter
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