Having successfully defended $16,000 earlier this week, bitcoin regained bid tone today and clocked a fresh record valuation above $17,800.

The cryptocurrency rose to a new lifetime high of $17,801.94 at 10:30 UTC, erasing the previous record high of $17,631.42 set on Dec. 12, as per CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

Bitcoin (BTC) has spent a better part of the last week trading sideways amid sharp gains in alternative cryptocurrencies, falling to $16,000 at points, before rising 8 percent in the last 24 hours. Still, the repeated rebounds from $16,000 levels are likely evidence of a strong “buy the dip” mentality among traders.

That said, the price chart analysis shows that bitcoin could make a push towards the $20,000 mark ahead of the BTC futures by listing this Sunday.

Bitcoin chart

The above chart (prices as per Coinbase) shows:

BTC managed to defend $16,000 despite doji reversal (marked by circles).

The recovery from $15,700 (Dec. 13 low) has established another higher low on the chart.

The 50-moving average (MA) is curled up in favor of the bulls.

The relative strength index (RSI) has bottomed out around 50.00 levels and is pointing northwards.

View

BTC looks set to test $18,149 (Dec. 12 high). A violation there would open doors for $20,000.

Only, a 4-hour close below $16,352 (confluence of the rising trendline and 50-MA) would abort the bullish view.

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