First Mover Asia: Bitcoin cracks $44k as short-term investors take profits

Ether and other major altcoins were up over the past 24 hours.

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Market moves: Bitcoin broke above $44,000 as short-term holders profited for the first time since November.

 Technician's take: BTC has confirmed a break above its two month-long downtrend.

Prices

Bitcoin (BTC): $43,906 +3.4%

Ether (ETH): $3,147 +3.4%

Top Gainers

Asset	Ticker	Returns	Sector
XRP	XRP	+21.8%	Currency
Polygon	MATIC	+18.7%	Smart Contract Platform
Ethereum Classic	ETC	+11.3%	Smart Contract Platform

Top Losers

There are no losers in CoinDesk 20 today.

Markets

S&P 500: 4,483 -0.3%

DJIA: 35.091 +1.3%

Nasdaq: 14.015 -0.5%

Gold: $1,820 +0.6%

Market moves

Bitcoin (BTC) broke above a key price level at $44,000 as bitcoin short-term holders earned profits for the first time since late November.

At the time of publication, the oldest cryptocurrency was changing hands at $43,906, up 3.4% during the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data.

Bitcoin got another price boost on Monday after more than 11% price gains last Friday. The last time bitcoin gained by more than 11% in a 24-hour period was in June, according to data from TradingView and Bitstamp.

As CoinDesk reported, about $71 million flowed into bitcoin-focused funds last week, the largest amount since early December.

As bitcoin’s price increased, coins that were spent and younger than 155 days, or those coins owned by short-term holders (STH), realized profits on aggregate for the first time since late November, according to blockchain data firm Glassnode.

Since March 2020, the market has managed to “break into a bullish uptrend” once the short-term holders broke into profitability, Glassnode wrote in its newsletter on Monday.

(Glassnode)

In the broader cryptocurrency market, prices of most tokens also rallied on Monday. Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was trading at $3,147, up 3.4%in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data.

At the time of writing, polygon (MATIC), the token of scaling systems project Polygon, was leading the latest price rally, up by almost 20% in the past 24 hours, according to Messari. The project announced on Monday that it raised $450 million in a round of funding led by Sequoia Capital India.

Technician's take

Bitcoin daily price chart shows support/resistance with RSI on bottom panel (Damanick Dantes/CoinDesk, TradingView)

Bitcoin (BTC) maintained support above $40,000 over the weekend and is up 6% over the past 24 hours.

The cryptocurrency was trading at around $44,200 at press time and has confirmed a break above its two month-long downtrend.

The intermediate-term outlook has become less bearish for BTC given the recent price bounce. That means buyers could remain active toward the next level of resistance of $45,000 to $47,000. At that point, a brief pullback is to be expected after retracing 38% of the prior downtrend.

The relative strength index (RSI) on the daily chart is not yet overbought, which leaves additional room for price gains this week. Buying activity has stalled over the past few weeks after the RSI first signaled oversold conditions on Dec. 10.

Still, momentum signals remain negative on the weekly and monthly chart, indicating some caution behind the latest price rally.

Important events

2:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (10:30 a.m. UTC): Japan labor cash earnings (Dec. YoY)

2:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (10:30 a.m. UTC): Japan overall household spending (Dec. YoY)

2:50 a.m. HKT/SGT (10:50 a.m. UTC): Japan bank lending (Jan. YoY)

3:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (11:30 a.m. UTC): National Australia Bank's business conditions (Jan.)

3:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (11:30 a.m. UTC): National Australia Bank's business confidence (Jan.)

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