Bitcoin price is finally seeing some gains, but it seems weak compared to other crypto assets. The macroeconomic environment is waking up and shaking things across all asset classes.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin price is trading at $16,800 with sideways movement over the last 24 hours. In the crypto top 10, BTC lags behind Ethereum, Binance Coin and Cardano. These cryptocurrencies are reacting positively to the start of 2023.
Bitcoin price aims for higher levels
According to a recent report from trading desk QCP Capital, institutions are springing back into action and allocating capital in gold and other assets. The precious metal has seen a 15% rally over the last 60 days and continues to rise.
The trading desk believes that institutions invest in “alternative assets” or stores of value. The Bitcoin price has yet to benefit from this trend, but the crypto market is making some gains. Specifically, the non-fungible token space.
This sector is reviving after months of declining activity. Popular NFT collections achieved 2 to 3x profits at the end of 2022 and are likely to continue this trend. QCP Capital took note of Bitcoin and Ethereum price action:
(…) in line with gold and NFTs, BTC and ETH are playing some catching up at the start of the year. Despite the mini-rally, BTC is still trading in an extremely tight falling wedge – with 18k the main breakout level to the upside.
If the Bitcoin price can flip $18,000 and move higher thanks to institutional allocation to alternative assets, the cryptocurrency could reclaim higher levels. The trading desk points to $28,000 as a critical level to watch.
This level is the neckline of the “Head and Shoulders” pattern that BTC has formed over the past two years. In addition, $28,000 has confluence with the 61.8% Fibonacci Retracement level, meaning many players will be watching it.
Which could work as an obstacle for Bitcoin
In the short term, Bitcoin price is experiencing resistance at the current level. Analyst Caleb Franzen progress that BTC will likely continue to see resistance around these prices and above.
In 2022, the $17,000 levels acted as critical support. Once lost, these levels turned into significant resistance, likely causing friction for the cryptocurrency. As the analyst noted, Bitcoin has already been rejected from these levels in an attempt to move above $18,000. Franzen said:
Bitcoin is definitely within a potential resistance range. Even if price succeeds above this diagonal resistance channel, we cannot ignore the overhead resistance of the former 2022 support range. We have already been rejected there once…