Bitcoin, with investors emerging profitable from weekend transactions, moved back to the center of its intraday trading range as the week of February 18 approached its close. Data from TradingView pointed to the $52,000 level as the focal point for Bitcoin price consolidation. The largest cryptocurrency had previously seen its lowest levels in several days on central exchanges, dropping to $50,680.
What’s Happening on the Bitcoin Front?
Following this development, the subsequent hours saw a rapid recovery with an increase of approximately $1,500 in value. Analyzing the week’s movement, popular investor Skew pointed out a change in investor behavior in the second half of the Wall Street trading week. Skew explained that spot purchases decreased towards the weekend and since then, there have mostly been buyer-driven declines and jumps:
“So far, we see some spot buyers returning, led by Binance spot.”
Meanwhile, according to data from blockchain analytics platform CoinGlass, the open interest (OI) in CME Group’s Bitcoin futures markets reached a record level of $6.8 billion, which was considered an indicator of future volatility.
In addition, discussing open interest in broader terms, popular investor Daan Crypto Trades noted a deviation when expressed in Bitcoin:
“This 100% rally since October has been healthy in terms of leverage imo. Funding largely maintained a neutral rate, and open interest in Bitcoin terms was lower. Of course, the USD value of the underlying asset increased during this period.”
Analyst Highlights Key Observations
Skew mentioned in his remarks that bulls need to maintain upward momentum in Bitcoin’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) in 4-hour time frames towards the weekly close. The 21-period exponential moving average (EMA), currently at the $51,500 level, is also significant.
Regarding the process on Binance, the analyst continued his remarks stating that there were notable spot sales related to jumps often seen in profit-taking situations, in terms of spot flows around $52,000 to $53,000:
“From here on in the current uptrend, the key point is seeing sufficient spot demand during declines and absorption at lower levels where limit buys mostly outweigh seller sales.”
Another investor and analyst, Matthew Hyland, underscored the ultimate support level that must be maintained for the close as below $49,000.
