Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin (BTC) surfed $27,000 on May 16 as traders stayed buoyant about upside continuation.

$24,000 BTC price still in play, says trader

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD still focusing on the $27,000 mark, having dipped to $26,870 after the daily close.

Still lacking direction, traders hoped the pair would either attempt to exit its narrow range or touch more significant levels up or down.

For popular trader Crypto Ed, potential targets included the “gap” in CME futures created at the weekend.

“It’s really on the lower timeframe where the action is now; higher timeframe is not really exciting,” he summarized in his latest YouTube update on the day.

Bitcoin’s price broke below its 55-day resistance at $27,000 on May 12, down 12.3% in 30 days. But more importantly, it decoupled from the S&P 500 Index, which is basically flat from 30 days ago and 15% below its all-time high.

As the chart indicates, for some reason, Bitcoin (BTC) investors believe that the favorable macroeconomic trends for risk markets were overshadowed by the increasing risk perception of the cryptocurrency sector.

Financial crisis could fuel Bitcoin’s price increase

For starters, there’s the impending United States government debt ceiling crisis, which, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, could cause an “economic and financial catastrophe." The increased risk of default should, in theory, be beneficial for scarce assets, as investors seek shelter from a weaker U.S. dollar.

The $5.6 trillion commercial real estate market in the U.S. is subject to additional risks due to high interest rates and troubled regional banks. Guggenheim Partners chief investment officer Anne Walsh stated, “We’re likely going into a real estate recession, but not across the entire real estate market."

There is also positive news on the cryptocurrency regulatory front, as the industry gathers additional support against the regulatory efforts of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed an amicus brief on May 9, defending the Coinbase exchange and accusing the SEC of deliberately creating a precarious and uncertain landscape.

Bitcoin saw five-day highs on May 15 as a rebound continued after the Wall Street open.

$40,000 “still a magnet” for BTC price

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $27,666 on Bitstamp.

Bitcoin (BTC) on Bitstamp held strength on hourly timeframes after a weekly close just below the $27,000 mark.

With United States equities in a tight range on the day, crypto analysts looked for cues over where markets might go next.

For Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, the outlook was good.

Bitcoin (BTC) is fighting for the bull trend as the new week begins with the market acting within a crucial zone.

After closing the weekly candle at just below $27,000, BTC/USD is attempting to cement support as a stubborn trading zone holds.

The stakes are already high, with last week seeing a flash dip below $26,000 and two-month lows for Bitcoin, making traders fearful of a larger bearish breakdown to come.

While this has not materialized, nerves remain on both shorter and longer timeframes.

Where is price action likely headed next? A relatively calm week of macro triggers means less chance of volatility from external sources.

Bitcoin (BTC) sought to recover $27,000 into the May 14 weekly close as volatility picked up out of hours.

BTC price gains over 7% in two days

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking to $27,200 on Bitstamp.

Its highest in several days, the performance reflected gains of around 7.5% versus local lows from the week’s final Wall Street trading session.

“Strong movements on Bitcoin as it swept all the lows in recent moves and grinds back up to $27.2K,” an optimistic Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, reacted.

“Patience, as flipping $27.2K is the first serious trigger for continuation upwards. In that case, close to a temporary bottom & potentially new highs to $36-42K still possible.”

Bitcoin (BTC) has rallied nearly 60% to around $27,000 in 2023 amid anticipations that the Federal Reserve would pause its quantitative tightening amid the U.S. banking crisis. Still, BTC price has failed to move beyond $30,000 decisively.

Buying exhaustion at this key psychological level led to a price correction toward $25,000 over the past week. Interestingly, the decline has strengthened Bitcoin's correlation with several traditional financial metrics.

But does this raise the risk of Bitcoin continuing its downtrend in Q2? Let's have a closer look.

U.S. dollar index's double bottom

The U.S. dollar index (DXY), which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of top foreign currencies, rose 1.4% to 102.70 in the week ending May 14. The rise marked the dollar's best week since September 2022.

Interestingly, the dollar's rise left behind a potential double bottom pattern, confirmed by two low points near a similar horizontal price level of around 100.75. A double bottom pattern is a bullish reversal setup, suggesting DXY could rise toward 105.85 in the next few months.