Bitcoin hits $74.4K six-week high as analysts see ‘more upside’ for BTC

Bitcoin found fresh strength during the early Asian trading hours on Monday as bulls eyed further short-term gains. 

Key takeaways

• Bitcoin price rises to a six-week high of $74,400 on Monday, liquidating $300 million in shorts.
• The 50-day moving average above $71,120 is a key support level to watch for BTC/USD going forward.

Bitcoin leads market in new relief bounce

Data from TradingView showed 2.5% daily BTC price gains, with BTC/USD rising as high as $74,400 for the first time since Feb. 4.

Ether, the largest altcoin by market capitalization, was trading at $2,250 at the time of writing, up 7% over the last 24 hours. Fifth-placed XRP has gained nearly 5% over the last day to trade just above $1.48.

Solana has also posted significant gains among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, up 6% over the same period. As a result, the global crypto market capitalization is up 4% over the day to $2.49 trillion on Monday.

“Bitcoin pumped $1,800 in just 30 minutes, hitting a 40-day high of $74,300,” analyst Bull Theory said in the latest post on X, adding:

It’s surprising how risk assets are performing better than safe-haven assets like gold and silver during an active war.

Bitcoin’s relief rally is accompanied by significant short liquidations across the crypto market totaling $300 million over the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) continued to rise, with monitoring resource Coinglass showing a 6% jump to $49.2 billion in the past 24 hours.

Commenting on the data, Coinglass said that the same pattern of the OI rising in tandem with the price “preceded the last volatility spikes,” adding:

New fuel is building again.

Bulls reclaim the 50-day BTC price trend line

Bitcoin’s latest recovery saw it reclaim a key support level in the form of the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) at $71,120.

“Impressive strength on BTC today - set to close a daily candle above its 50MA for the first time in 55 days,” said trader and investor MacroSRG in a Monday post on X.

BTC rallied 33% in just a month following the last time the price reclaimed this trend line after a long period of trading below it.

Bitcoin is also “set to close 8 consecutive daily green candles for the first time since December 2020,” analyst Max Crypto said in an X post, adding: 

Last time this happened, BTC rallied 145% in just 2 months.

Echoing this, MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said that while Bitcoin continues to build momentum, its valuation against gold “rallies substantially,” adding:

There's more upside to come; $ETH broke out of the range, which means it's a matter of time until Bitcoin continues the rally towards $80K.

Along with the 50-day SMA, the BTC/USD pair now also trades above other key long-term levels, including the 200-week exponential moving average (EMA) and the old 2021 all-time high at $68,300 and $69,400, respectively.