Bitcoin rose above $43,000 on December 19, influenced by the news of the United States’ first spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF). However, due to selling pressure throughout the day, the price of Bitcoin fell to $42,252 and was trading at $42,547 at the time of writing. So, what is expected in the upcoming period? Let’s examine together.
Eyes on the ETF Application Process
After a week of uncertainty, the BTC/USD pair quickly gained strength, and the December 18 candlestick managed to close more than 5% above the day’s lowest level. Then came the news that asset manager BlackRock, one of the applicants to launch the first US spot Bitcoin ETF product, changed its service policy to include Bitcoin as an option.
The SEC is expected to start making its final decision on the spot ETF at the beginning of January 2024, and accordingly, various Bitcoin price predictions are based on a successful application approval. Investor and analyst Bob Loukas shared his thoughts on the developments through X with his followers:
“The level of participation in the SEC’s Bitcoin ETF product and the forwards/backwards/changes tell us that this is a 99.9% completed deal.”
What is Expected for Bitcoin’s Price?
With these developments, there are various macroeconomic data announcements that could increase volatility ahead of Bitcoin, including the annual candlestick closure and the holiday season. Investors continue to draw lines above and below the spot price, and a journey below $40,000 is still on the agenda.
Crypto Ed, the creator of the trading group CryptoTA, predicted in a chart update shared on December 18 that this possibility would occur before a final rise and potentially send the BTC/USD pair to $50,000 before the end of 2023, and commented:
“Let’s see how this develops in the coming days of the week.”
Popular investor and analyst Matthew Hyland remained optimistic about further rises due to the bullish trend seen against the price in Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) on daily timeframes. The daily RSI, which had overheated levels after Bitcoin’s price dropped above the highest level in the last 19 months of $44,000, fell to 60.45 at the time of writing.
