Bitcoin (BTC) traded at around $73,744 during early Asian sessions on Monday, showing renewed strength as bulls targeted additional short-term upside.
Key takeaways:
- Bitcoin surged to a six-week high of $74,400 on Monday, triggering roughly $300 million in short liquidations.
- Analysts note that the 50-day moving average near $71,120 now serves as a critical support level for the BTC/USD pair.
Bitcoin Drives Market in Fresh Relief Rally
Data from TradingView showed Bitcoin gaining 2.5% on the day, with BTC/USD climbing to $74,400, its highest level since Feb. 4.
Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market capitalization, was trading around $2,250 at the time of writing, up 7% in the past 24 hours. Fifth-ranked XRP rose nearly 5%, reaching just above $1.48.
Solana (SOL) also saw notable gains among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, climbing 6% over the same period. The overall crypto market capitalization increased 4% on the day, reaching $2.49 trillion on Monday.
“Bitcoin pumped $1,800 in just 30 minutes, hitting a 40-day high of $74,300,” analyst Bull Theory said in the latest post on X, adding:
“It’s surprising how risk assets are performing better than safe-haven assets like gold and silver during an active war.”
Bitcoin’s relief rally has triggered around $300 million in short liquidations across the crypto market in the past 24 hours. At the same time, Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) continued to climb, with monitoring platform Coinglass reporting a 6% increase to $49.2 billion over the same period.
Commenting on the trend, Coinglass noted that rising OI alongside increasing BTC prices has historically preceded major volatility spikes, adding:
“New fuel is building again.”
Bulls Retake Key 50-Day Trend Line
Bitcoin’s recent recovery pushed it back above a critical support level, the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) at $71,120.
“Impressive strength on BTC today — set to close a daily candle above its 50MA for the first time in 55 days,” said trader and investor MacroSRG in a Monday post on X.
Historically, BTC has rallied sharply after reclaiming this trend line; following the last recovery, the asset gained 33% in just one month after an extended period below the 50-day SMA.
Bitcoin is also poised to close eight consecutive daily green candles for the first time since December 2020, analyst Max Crypto noted in a post on X, adding:
“Last time this happened, BTC rallied 145% in just 2 months.”
Echoing this sentiment, MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe noted that as Bitcoin builds momentum, its valuation relative to gold “rallies substantially,” adding:
“There’s more upside to come; $ETH broke out of the range, which means it’s a matter of time until Bitcoin continues the rally towards $80K.”
In addition to reclaiming the 50-day SMA, the BTC/USD pair now trades above other critical long-term levels, including the 200-week exponential moving average (EMA) at $68,300 and its 2021 all-time high of $69,400.
