Bitcoin eyes $30k as analysts predict post-ETF surge

Cryptocurrency prices crept higher on Thursday as Monday’s false spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF story managed to reignite interest in the top cryptocurrency, with multiple analysts saying BTC could quickly climb into a range between $42,000 and $56,000 after the approval of a spot ETF does take place.

Stocks saw a volatile day of trading as they opened under pressure, managed to climb into the green near midday, and then slid back into the red in the afternoon. The source of the volatility was the Federal Reserve, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell said inflation is still too high and signaled that the central bank intends to hold interest rates high for an extended period of time as economic growth remains strong.

The hawkish tone pushed many traders to exit the market, resulting in a negative close for the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq, which finished down 0.85%, 0.75%, and 0.96%, respectively.

Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin’s price stair-stepped its way from $28,250 to a high of $28,940 on Thursday, with bulls now looking to gather reinforcements before they make a push for resistance at $30,000. At the time of writing, BTC trades at $28,800.

Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff observed that “October Bitcoin futures prices [were] firmer in early U.S. trading Thursday, after solid gains posted earlier this week that saw prices hit a two-month high.”

Bitcoin futures 1-day chart. Source: Kitco

“The BTC bulls have the near-term technical advantage amid a price uptrend in place on the daily bar chart,” Wyckoff said. “The path of least resistance for prices is sideways to higher in the near term.”

According to market analyst Pentoshi, Bitcoin is “looking good so far,” and $29,300 is a “Key spot on [the] low-mid time frame.”

“If we do end up rejecting there, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of fake head and shoulders setup where the timeline calls for much lower just to get [blown up] again.”

Cubic analytics founder Caleb Franzen noted that BTC is holding above the short-term holder realized price, which has historically been a sign of a bull market.

And market analyst Adrian Zduńczyk said $40,000 is “just a matter of time.”

While many traders are trying to perfectly time the bottom amid talk of Bitcoin ETFs, inflation, and high interest rates, market analyst Crypto Tony recommended a lower stress option amid the current volatility.

“Do not think you need to catch the absolute bottom to be the best trader,” he said. “Only clowns with big EGOs think that way. You want the least stressful and best-managed entry in the crypto space. Take BTC… Only enter if we take out $29,000. Simple.”

Mixed performance in the altcoin market

Altcoins traded mixed, with a slight majority of tokens in the top 200 recording losses on Thursday.

Ardor (ARDR) saw the biggest increase with a gain of 34.4%, followed by a 22.9% rally for Orbs (ORBS), and an 8.7% gain for Polymesh (POLYX). Loom Network (LOOM) led the losers with a decline of 17.8%, while Blur (BLUR) fell 17.5%, and Stratis (STRAX) lost 11.75%.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.09 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 51.4%.