Bitcoin Blasts to $44K on Coinbase, and Could Run Towards $48K Resistance: LMAX Analyst

A quick surge in bitcoin [BTC] early Tuesday afternoon lifted the price above $44,000 on some crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, for the first time since early April 2022 as the largest crypto extended its rally supported by declining interest rates and anticipation for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the U.S.

The CoinDesk Bitcoin Index [XBX], which gathers pricing data from multiple exchanges, rose from below $42,000 earlier in the day to hit a session high of $43,868. It's shed some of the gains since, retreating to around $43,500, still up nearly 5% over the past 24 hours.

The volatile action liquidated $73 million of leveraged bitcoin derivatives trading positions, predominantly shorts betting on lower prices, Glassnode data shows.

The bitcoin rally is supported by a confluence of growing institutional investor interest and anticipation of an imminent regulatory approval for listing spot-based BTC ETFs in the U.S., simplifying access to the asset for traditional players, Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group, said in an email.

Kruger said BTC's upward price momentum has a clear path ahead until the area between $48,000 and $53,000, based on technical price levels – notably highs hit in March 2022 and September 2021.

"There is a nice zone between those two levels with very little in the way of any meaningful resistance between the current price and that March 2022 high," Kruger explained.