Bitcoin Fails to Convince Bottom to $12K ‘Still Possible’

bitcoin (BTC) may be circling its highest levels in months, but few are convinced that the bull market is back.

Ahead of the major weekly close, BTC/USD is still near $21,000, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro And TradingView It shows, with analysts nervous about the good times ending too soon.

Bitcoin will see a new “depression” before resuming the bullish trend

Bitcoin divided opinion after a week of rapid gains. There are plenty of warnings about a potential pullback, while others are sympathizing with the bears early on.

“Now bears will be caught in the vicious circle of praying for pullbacks to come down, not realizing that the tide has changed for some time as we head higher,” said Chris Borneske, former head of cryptocurrency at ARK Invest. summary.

Even the most bullish like the Bernesky take, don’t expect the bull run to continue uninterrupted in the eventual end of Bitcoin’s latest bear market.

Uploading the classic “Wall Street Cheat Sheet” graphic over the weekend, well-known commentator Lemon predicted that BTC/USD would continue lower.

“Sorry, I have to be honest with my thoughts, I guess we’re here,” he said Tell Twitter followers point to the direction of Bitcoin – and the price – towards macro dips.

Such a theory correlates with the most dismissive reactions to the latest BTC price bounce, such as that from fellow commentator Il Capo of Crypto, who in recent days called it “one of the biggest bull traps I’ve ever seen.”

“Despite the recent rebound, the bearish scenario has not been invalidated,” he said books In part of a follow-up Twitter thread on January 14:

“If you have made profits during these days, I sincerely congratulate you, but remember that it is not a bad time to protect those profits.”

He concluded that an overall decline at $12,000 on BTC/USD is “still likely.”

Funding rates frightened the mood

Turning to the data, Maartunn, a contributor to on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, warned that a BTC price correction could come sooner rather than later.

Related: Bitcoin Gained 300% in the Year Before the Latest Halving – Is 2023 Different?

Funding rates on derivatives platforms books In a blog post on Jan. 14, it reached unsustainable levels.

“Bitcoin funding rates are at a 14-month high,” he noted.

With positive rates, those who crave BTC are actually paying to do so, indicating a popular belief that prices will continue to rise. This, in turn, can cause significant turbulence if price reacts contrary to consensus, causing a series of liquidations if support is broken.

Obviously, traders are betting on higher prices. In any case, analysis of the financing rates graph indicates that this may not be the case.

“On previous occasions where funding prices have been as high as today, bitcoin has fallen.”

The views, ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.