Experts assessed what will happen with Bitcoin from February 26 to March 3

Shift in Interest. What will happen with Bitcoin in the upcoming week

Experts assessed what will happen with Bitcoin from February 26 to March 3

Experts analyzed the market situation and talked about how it might change in the upcoming week.

On Sunday, February 25, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $51.7 thousand, its price has returned to the values at the end of the previous week. Specialists analyzed the market situation and evaluated the prospects of Bitcoin's course movement for the next seven days.

"The overall picture is in favor of buyers"

Financial analyst at BitRiver

During the past week, Bitcoin traded in the range of $50,521 to $52,985. On Friday, February 23, by the end of the day, the BTC/USD pair decreased by 1.06% to $50,744. For seven days, the price remained at the $51,800 mark, but since February 22, buyers began to retreat against the backdrop of the dollar index rebound and the correction in the S&P 500.

From January 23 to February 23, the price of Bitcoin sharply increased by 37%, forming a "double top." One of the main factors pushing the price up is the inflow of funds after the SEC approved Bitcoin spot ETFs. The emergence of such investment funds in the United States expanded access to Bitcoin, increasing interest in cryptocurrencies in general. Increased demand for Bitcoin from institutional investors may stimulate the growth of other tokens.

Another significant factor is the upcoming Bitcoin halving scheduled for April. Previous reductions in miner rewards were followed by subsequent Bitcoin price increases, but not immediately. However, it is unclear whether similar dynamics will be maintained this time after the early rally.

In addition to the halving's impact on supply and demand balance, changes in the market and international events can also affect Bitcoin's price. Another catalyst for growth could have been the expected possible reduction in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve in May, but due to the latest statistics, the rate cut is now expected no earlier than June.

The upcoming presidential elections in the United States may also influence Bitcoin dynamics in the second half of the year, although their impact on the cryptocurrency market may be indirect through the dollar and stock indices.

At the time of writing the review, the BTC/USD pair is trading at $51,075. According to BitRiver's estimates, the $50,500 - $50,600 zone continues to serve as good support. However, it must be acknowledged that sales have increased since February 18, and the inability of buyers on February 20 to hold defense above $52,300 has intensified pressure on Bitcoin through the closing of long positions.

Such price behavior was expected, as buyers quickly reached first the $45,000 level, then the $50,000 level. The faster the price rises, the stronger it falls when demand for the cryptocurrency sharply decreases. If market participants are additionally frightened by exchange "horror stories," then investors who jumped on the train after the ETF launch, fueled by the fear of losing money, will themselves collapse the market through manual or forced closure of long positions if they run out of margin.

If sellers break protective stops below the $50,000 level, then after breaking through, they will have two targets: $46,850 and $42,800. Overall, on daily and weekly charts, the overall picture remains in favor of buyers. Many altcoins show decent returns.

Buyers' increased activity is expected after March 3. A bad scenario for buyers is a sharp drop to $43,300 by March 3. I didn't take this scenario into account, but it's better to know the sellers' plans to understand how to act.

During the past week, Bitcoin mostly traded sideways, rising to $52,985 and falling to $50,521. Fundamentally, further institutional support for Bitcoin is expected, as well as a high probability of setting a new historical maximum within six months. The $50,500 - $50,600 zone continues to act as support for the main cryptocurrency.

"Rally for ETH may continue"

Founder of TerraCrypto

Last week, the spotlight shifted from Bitcoin to Ethereum (ETH). BTC failed to break through the $52,000 mark, despite attempts to break resistance in the middle of the week. By the weekend, the price dropped to $51,000, which is 1.7% lower than the price at the beginning of the week. Meanwhile, ETH rose by 6% over the week, with local breakthroughs above the psychological mark of $3,000.

Ethereum is growing in anticipation of the approval of the first spot ETFs in the US, not for Bitcoin anymore, but for ETH, and the first ones may be approved in May. In addition to this, "ether" is moving up thanks to the anticipation of the upcoming Denun upgrade, which will be another step towards scaling and increasing the efficiency of the Ethereum blockchain.

ETH has all the chances to attract the attention of market participants in the next couple of weeks until mid-March. If BTC is currently trading at 75% of its historical maximum, then ETH lags behind in this indicator, being at 61% of the price peak.

Another indicator speaks of a shift in interest from BTC to ETH. Since the beginning of 2023, the ETH to BTC exchange rate has been decreasing, but now there has been a turning point in this trend - the ETH to BTC exchange rate curve shows a reversal towards growth. While ETH gained 5.7% against the dollar over the past week, its growth against Bitcoin was even higher - 7.6%.

Interestingly, over the past 4 months, the number of active MetaMask cryptocurrency wallets - the main wallet for "ether" - has sharply increased. In September 2023, their number was estimated at 19 million, and in January, it was already 30 million. This may also indicate that capital may shift to altcoins in the coming weeks, as investors' appetite for risk is high, and they are willing to take risks for the chance of high returns.

Together with ETH, other cryptocurrencies associated with solutions for decentralized applications and protocols are also growing - Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Avalanche (AVAX), and Cosmos (ATOM).

Next week, ETH will continue to attract investors' attention. Optimistic sentiments towards the coin dominate, so the rally for ETH may continue. The next significant level for ETH will be $3,500. The upper resistance level in the next month is seen at $3,800, as this represents 80% of the historical maximum. It is unlikely that Ethereum will surpass Bitcoin in terms of approaching the maximum. Until Bitcoin enters the final stretch towards a new historical maximum, the rest of the cryptocurrency market is unlikely to surpass it in this regard.

Speaking of Bitcoin, the range of fluctuations has now narrowed to approximately $1,500-2,000. The resistance level is slightly below $52,000, and the support level is $50,300. A new wave of growth in preparation for the halving is expected closer to mid-March, when the Federal Reserve will convene for another meeting on the key rate, and there will be a little over a month left until the halving