After a long and tiresome period of consolidation, rangebound trading and never-ending uncertainty, Bitcoin (BTC) rushed to new 2019 highs, smashing several important technical levels on the way. Altcoins demonstrated similar momentum, moreover some assets took traders and investors totally by surprise with a spectacular growth. Dormant bulls seem to have woken up to mark the beginning of Crypto Spring.

What’s going on in the market

Cryptocurrency market went wild this week. Bitcoin and other digital assets spiked to fresh multi-months highs within several hours on Monday and managed to settle at new levels. The total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market hit $185B on Thursday before retracing to $174 by the time of writing. What’s more, in a flash, an average daily trading volume catapulted to $89B, which is a new the all-time high.

What caused such a strong growth remains a mystery with theories going from whales’ mischief to an overreaction to an April Fool’s joke. Whatever the reason, the outcome stays clear: Bitcoin broke above $5,000 and managed to hold the ground amid snowballing trading activity.

A spectacular price growth led to an increased interest towards digital assets. According to Google Trends data, the number of search queries with “Bitcoin” surged. Internet users wanted to find some info about the digital coin three times more often. The largest number of queries came from Nigeria, The Netherlands, South Africa, Austria and Switzerland.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin Cash take on the role of the growth leader of the week out of top-20 coins. BCH grew by an eye-popping 70% and settled close to $300 after a move towards $352. While the price has retreated from the recent top, the coin retains positive bias at it stays above DMA200 (currently at $251).

Litecoin is another growth leader. The coin made its way to the fourth place in the global cryptocurrency rating. LTC bulls stopped within a whisker of $100.00, which is the highest level since the end of June 2018. It has gained over 44% in recent seven days

BTC/USD, 1D chart

BTC/USD has lived through one of its best weeks since the end of December. The first digital coin hit $5,348 on April 3, which is the highest level since November 2018 and the best level of 2019. One Bitcoin is now $900 more expensive than five days ago, trading at $4,970, at the time of writing. 

From the longer-term perspective, the coin retains bullish potential and may resume growth after a period of consolidation with a potential retreat towards $4,800 support. The weekly Relative Strength Index (RSI) points upwards,  consistent with the above view. 

Meanwhile, we will need to see a sustainable move above $5,300 and the recent high $5,348 for the recovery to gain traction. The next strong resistance comes at $5,700 with weekly SMA50 located right above this handle.

However, the daily RSI stays on the overbought zone and starts to revert to the downside, which is a concern for short-term traders. The coin may extended downside correction before the growth will be resumed. 

Looking at the charts, $4,800 provides a strong support, created by a confluence of technical indicators including Pivot Point 1-month Resistance 3. The next support is seen at $4,450  (Pivot Point 1-week Resistance 3, Pivot Point 1-month Resistance 2 and DMA5 located on approach).

The Forecast Poll of experts improved significantly since the previous week as expectations on all time frames are bullish. Both 1-month and 1-week price estimations are above $5,000 handle. On a quarterly basis, BTC is likely to stall at $4,950. 


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