Bitcoin Fails to Convince $12K Bottom ‘Still Possible’

bitcoin (BTC) may be circling its highest levels in months, but few are convinced that the bull market is back.

Ahead of the major weekly close, BTC/USD is still near $21,000, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro And TradingView It shows, with analysts nervous about the good times ending too soon.

Bitcoin will see another “depression” before resuming the bullish trend

Bitcoin divided opinion after a week of rapid gains. There are plenty of warnings about a potential pullback, while others are sympathizing with the bears early on.

“Now bears will be caught in the vicious cycle of praying for pullbacks to come down, not realizing that the tide has changed for a while as we head higher,” said Chris Borneske, former head of cryptocurrency at ARK Invest. summary.

Even the most bullish like Burniske’s take, don’t expect the bullish trend to continue uninterrupted in an eventual end to the recent Bitcoin bear market.

Uploading the classic “Wall Street Cheat Sheet” graphic over the weekend, well-known commentator Lemon predicted that BTC/USD would continue lower.

“Sorry, I have to be honest with my thoughts, I guess we’re here,” he said Tell Twitter followers point to the direction of Bitcoin – and the price – towards macro dips.

The “Wall Street Cheat Sheet” Annotated Chart. Source: Lemon / Twitter

This theory correlates with dismissive reactions to the latest BTC price bounce, such as that from fellow commentator Il Capo of Crypto, who in recent days has called it “one of the biggest bull traps I’ve ever seen.”

“Despite the recent rebound, the bearish scenario has not been invalidated,” he said books In part of a follow-up Twitter thread on Jan. 14:

“If you have made profits during these days, I sincerely congratulate you, but remember that it is not a bad time to protect those profits.”

He concluded that an overall decline at $12,000 on BTC/USD is “still likely.”

Annotated BTC/USD chart. Source: Il Capo of Crypto / Twitter

Funding rates frightened the mood

Turning to the data, Maartunn, a contributor to on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, warned that a BTC price correction could come sooner rather than later.

Related: Bitcoin Gained 300% in the Year Before the Latest Halving – Is 2023 Different?

Funding rates on derivatives platforms books In a blog post on January 14th, it reached unsustainable levels.

“Bitcoin funding rates are at a 14-month high,” he noted.

With positive rates, those who crave BTC are actually paying to do so, indicating a popular belief that prices will continue to rise. This, in turn, can cause significant turmoil if price reacts contrary to consensus, causing a series of liquidations if support is broken.

Obviously, traders are betting on higher prices. In any case, analysis of the financing rates graph indicates that this may not be the case.

“On previous occasions where financing prices have been as high as today, bitcoin has fallen.”

Detailed bitcoin finance price chart. Source: CryptoQuant

The views, ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.