Bitcoin Price Top Forecast: Facebook’s Libra set Bitcoin on fire

Bitcoin breaks above $9,000, head towards $10,000.

• The cryptocurrency market is agitated by Libra announcement.
• The long-term Bitcoin’s bullish trend is gaining traction.

The cryptocurrency market rushes forward as the positive sentiments are gaining traction. Bitcoin and all major altcoins are gaining ground rapidly, creating FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) environment. The total capitalization of all digital assets in circulation stopped within a whisker of $300 billion, not seen since July 2018.

Much adore about Libra

It’s been a Libra week as the cryptocurrency market is fixated on Facebook’s digital coin, which is not yet minted, but already loved and hated. The excitement about Libra extrapolated to the broader cryptocurrency market and helped engineer a recovery across all major digital assets, including Bitcoin. 

Read more about Libra launch and its consequences in the extensive analysis by Yohay Elam

Regulators are a bit less than thrilled

Meanwhile, global authorities and regulators do not seem to be particularly happy about Mark Zuckerberg’s initiative. Thus, the US Senate Banking Committee invited him to testify on the hearings devoted to the new Facebook coin. Members of the Congress will scrutinize the token and its potential risks.

Several critically-minded lawmakers have already demanded that Facebook stopped working on Libra project before it is examined and by Congress and regulators. Many politicians and experts are concerned about Facebook’s bad track record in terms of user data protection.

French Minister Bruno Le Maire joined the chorus of skeptical voices. He said that Facebook should provide some guarantees that the coin would not be used to finance terrorism and illegal activities. At the same time, he assured that Libbra would never become a substitute for a sovereign currency. Russia’s Anatoliy Aksakov, the chairman of the financial market committee of the lower chamber of the parliament, said that Libra would not be allowed on the territory of Russia, though the citizens would be able to purchase it from foreign trading platforms for digital assets.

Crypto community is skeptical

The main concern voiced by the crypto community about Libra coin is centered around its decentralization features. The company claims that the ecosystem would be controlled by a distributed network of node operators, but it is not entirely public as only invited members who can afford a $10 million entrance fee can become node operators.

Apart from that, many experts point out, that, fundamentally, the coin is more line an accounting unit rather than a currency per se. Moreover, the functionality, provided by Libbra is no different from the existing technologies of banks, credit card companies, or PayPal. 

BTC/USD, 1D chart

BTC/USD has continued to move within a steady upside trend this week with four green daily candles out of five. The technical picture has improved significantly as the coin has settled well above $9,000 and hit a new high at $9,911 on Friday amid growing bullish sentiments. 

While the price has retreated to $9,847 by the time of writing, the price retains strong upside potential with the immediate resistance created by the above-mentioned high. Once it is cleared a pivotal $10,000 will come into view. 

Considering that the Relative Strength Index (RSI) on a daily chart points upwards, this handle may be tested within the nearest future. However, the bulls should proceed with caution as the indicator is entering overbought territory, which may signal about the upcoming correction.

Anyway, a sustainable move above this critical handle will push the price into the uncharted territory, which may lead to exaggerated price movements and excessive volatility. The next major bull’s aim awaits at $12,640 (the upper boundary of 1-month Bollinger Band).

On the downside, BTC/USD needs to stay above $9,100 strengthened by Pivot Point 1-day Resistance 1 and the highest level of the previous months. This area is followed by psychological $9,000 protected by stop orders. New buying interest is likely to appear on approach to this handle and create a new recovery wave. 

However, once it is cleared, the sell-off is likely to gain traction with the next focus on $8,800 (the weekly low) and $8,500 (the middle line of 1-day Bollinger Band). 

The Forecast Poll of experts improved significantly since the previous week. Expectations on all timeframes are bullish, while average price forecasts are well above  $10,000. 

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