The initial spike in price still could be viewed as another bullish sign
The bitcoin price rallied at the start of the week, extending gains after a recovery above the $40,000 psychological level. The BTCUSD pair had been retaining a bullish bias till Thursday when the prices briefly exceeded the $45,000 figure and notched early-January highs around $45,800. However, the coin failed to preserve gains and retreated aggressively to finish below $44,000.
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization came under the selling pressure along with stocks and other risky assets after fresh economic data out of the United States showed inflation rose to fresh 40-year highs last month, thus pushing the Fed to hike rates more aggressively. Of note, Fed’s Bullard said after the report that he now wanted a full percentage point of interest rate hikes by July 1.
Of note, the initial spike in bitcoin price still could be viewed as another bullish sign, suggesting the cryptocurrency market is getting out of its multi-week bearish correction that took bitcoin to mid-2021 lows below the $33,000 figure on January 24.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase strategists said that their long-term theoretical target for bitcoin is $150,000, up from $146,000 predicted last year. At that, analysts noted that bitcoin’s fair value is around $38,000, up from $35,000 estimated in 2021.
On Friday, the digital currency stays under some pressure. Earlier in the day, the price extended losses to four-day lows around $42,600 before regaining the $43,000 figure, suggesting the downside potential could be limited in the short term.
On the weekly timeframes, BTCUSD still looks set to finish in the positive territory if the prices manage to stay afloat during the weekend. Should the coin regain the upside bias, the immediate target will arrive at $44,500, followed by the mentioned local highs.
