Bitcoin kept bulls guessing and bears firmly disappointed on March 12 as a retest of lower levels ended in a strong rebound.
Data from price trackers including CoinMarketCap and Tradingview showed BTC/USD rejecting a move towards previous support at $52,000 which began overnight.
Bitcoin steers clear of local lows
In the latest installment of the pair’s consolidatory story after hitting $58,300 all-time highs, local lows of $54,400 sparked a dramatic uptick which saw $2,000 gains in three hours.
At press time, $56,000-$57,000 was once again a focus of interest for spot markets, with Bitcoin firmly retaining $52,000 support and continuing to tackle the final resistance band below the all-time high.
The story is familiar for traders, who remain bullish on longer timeframes and little concerned about sideways action in the meantime.
“Retesting a key resistance as support for the first time,” popular trader Scott Melker summarized on Twitter as $55,000 came and went during the dip.
Wednesday produced a firm dent in resistance and a trip to $57,300 as markets waited for confirmation that American multinational Oracle had purchased a significant amount of BTC. In the event, no such confirmation was had, as the firm’s conference call failed to mention Bitcoin.
“Looks like the market was disappointed with no bitcoin on Oracle’s balance sheet,” RT hosts Max Keiser and Stacey Herbert’s Orange Pill Podcast responded, noting lackluster performance in Oracle stock on the day.
Keiser himself was one of the first to report the buy-in rumors, citing “sources” last month which had revealed the plans.
Others meanwhile added that Oracle, as well as any other company completing an allocation in Q1, would not need to report such activity to U.S. regulators until May.
With the let-down seemingly out of the way, however, confidence swiftly returned to Bitcoin, with institutional bullishness meanwhile taking little notice of circumstantial events. Open interest on Bitcoin derivatives hit new all-time highs of $20 billion this week.
No let-up for embattled gold
With that, perspectives for Bitcoin remain rosy, Bloomberg Intelligence forecast on the day, while traditional safe haven gold will suffer as a result.
“…Old-Guard Gold Appears Ready for Nap Time vs. Young Bitcoin,” senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone wrote in his latest update.
“A bit too cold in March, gold is more likely to recover, but we see the metal settling into an extended rest period. Upside is limited by good resistance and relative new-comer Bitcoin.”
Other institutional moves this week received a warmer reaction, notably Digital Currency Group announcing plans to purchase up to $250 million shares of its subsidiary Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
“If you are a company offering Bitcoin products or services, there is no better way to create shareholder value than to invest your own treasury & cash flow back into bitcoin,” MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor concluded.
The GBTC premium has rebounded over the past week, having previously traded at a record 13% discount to its net asset value—a brief window for investors to save on purchasing exposure to Bitcoin.
