Bitcoin (BTC) Eyes Major Breakout Above Local High as Market Confidence Soars

Bitcoin (BTC) has soared past the $102,000 mark, signaling a strong bullish trend and generating widespread excitement in the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin (BTC) price Surges Past $102,000 as Trump-Era Crypto Optimism Builds.

Bitcoin (BTC) price showed no signs of slowing down on January 19, as a surge past the $102,000 mark signaled another day of gains in the run-up to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Fresh gains saw BTC/USD briefly hit highs of $102,500 on major exchange Bitstamp. The pair began the day at around $100,800.

Bitcoin price now up over 1000% in 2021.

Bitcoin’s latest surge came as the cryptocurrency showed no signs of a downturn despite fears of a bubble earlier this month.

Crucially, institutional demand appeared to be a major factor driving prices higher. According to data from Glassnode, institutions now hold a net 90% of the Bitcoin supply in circulation.

“Both retail and institutional traders are net long and positioned for a breakout,” top crypto trader and analyst Pentoshi summarized late on January 18.

“If the bulls can crack 103.6k, a transformative rally will begin.”

Institutions hold 90% of the total Bitcoin supply in circulation. Source: GlassnodeInstitutions driving Bitcoin price to new all-time highs, data suggests.

Institutions’ bullish sentiment stood in stark contrast to that of retail traders, who according to Pentoshi were net short on Bitcoin.

Earlier, fellow trader and analyst Axel Adler noted that Bitcoin had not yet reached “extreme overbought” conditions.

This was evident from the realized price multiple, a technical indicator showing the market value of all coins divided by 365-day moving average realized price.

“We can still go up quite a bit from here,” a post on Adler’s Telegram channel concluded.

Bitcoin price technical analysis

At the time of writing, BTC/USD was up around 1.5% over the past 24 hours and 6.5% over the past week.

Bitcoin price now eyes major breakout above local high.

BTC/USD now faced resistance at the local high of around $103,600, which if broken would likely see the asset continue to new all-time highs.

Crucially, Bitcoin price could then enter a phase of “price discovery,” where there were no prior highs to limit further gains.

Conversely, support now lay at the round number of $100,000, followed by the 50 moving average on the 1-hour chart at around $98,000.