Bitcoin Price Rallies from $12,000 to $15,000 After Pullback

While mainstream media has gone back to its normally slightly bearish news cycle on cryptocurrency, bitcoin has held steady, after losing ground from its all-time high of $19,666.

December was an eventful month for bitcoin, with investors for the first time being able to access bitcoin indirectly through futures and options made available through CME and CBOE.

While this is not direct exposure to the growing cryptocurrency, it does show an increasing demand for access to the potentially rewarding asset.

After the rally and this news, bitcoin tumbled to a low of just below $11159.93 on the Bitstamp exchange. Despite the 40 percent fall, bitcoin still ended the year at a price of more than 15 times 2017’s low, still providing far more returns than any traditional investment vehicle and an impressive figure in the cryptocurrency scene as well.

So far on January 3, BTC-USD has reached a new high at $15,500. The Ichimoku cloud provides a support zone around the $14,000 handle, so we may see the market dip lower and test this support before moving higher.

BTC-USD (Bitstamp, 4-hour)

Using the Fibonacci tool, we see that the market is likely to find support around $14,084.06 and $13,807.11, the 50 and 28.3 retracement levels respectively. Resistance is seen at $15,257.53 and a break back above this level should see a tendency toward the extension level at $16,707.95.

BTC-USD (Bitstamp, 4-hour)

The 15-minute timeframe below shows that a bearish saucer has formed, but to be triggered, we need bitcoin to move below the recent low at $14,582.74. The most recent fractal support is at $14,546.28 and sell limit orders are suggested just below this level. For a short-term bullish outlook, we look for a close above the Alligator. A move above $14,884.62 (previous fractal resistance above Alligator) should see further gains and an attempt at $15,500.

BTC-USD (Bitstamp, 15-minute)

John Stoltzfus, Chief Investment Strategist at Oppenheimer Asset Management, said in a note to clients on January 2:

“Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, saw a marked increase in price volatility over the past two weeks leading many (including us) to wonder if the bubble is beginning to burst. We continue to be skeptical of the proposition of Bitcoin as a currency.”

Since the tumble and this statement, bitcoin is starting the new year with some growth, nearing $15,000 at the time of writing. This is also followed by a more general recovery of the cryptocurrency scene in general, with many of the top 10 and 100 coins experiencing double-digit growth.

2018 looks to be a good year for the cryptocurrency, and is starting out in five figures. Predictions for bitcoin’s growth is optimistic, with predictions anywhere from $100,000 to ones seeing bitcoin at $60,000, but crashing down to prices witnessed in 2017. Several new altcoins look to change up the scene as well, and it’ll be interesting to see which trend of altcoins catches favor of speculators and traders alike.

Contributions by Jamie Holmes.