Bitcoin (BTC) broke through the top of a stubborn trading range on August 11 as an embarrassing rally took over risk assets.
BTC/USD 1-hour candlestick chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
Bitcoin bounce warnings intensify near $25,000
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed that BTC/USD reached a high of $24,750 on Bitstamp, marking its best performance since June 13.
The pair attempted several breakouts to the top of the range in the previous weeks, and all of those breakouts failed to meet the intense selling pressure.
New US inflation data released this week provided a long-awaited catalyst for change, however, with Bitcoin and altcoins rising in parallel with stocks, as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July indicates inflation has peaked.
On August 10, the day of the release, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 2.1% and 1.9%, respectively. On the other hand, the BTC/USD pair saw a daily candle at around $900.
Rather than accumulating optimism, market commentators were nothing but blanket optimism as the dust faded. Investor Raul Pal noted that sentiment was treating the post-CPI rally as a black sheep.
“Well, this seems to be one of the most hated speculations I’ve seen in a few years on stocks,” he told Twitter followers in a dedicated thread.
However, Ball argued there was a “very good chance” that stocks had bottomed out in June.
Anticipating a major change in the crypto-settings, meanwhile, famous Crypto trader and analyst Il Capo stopped short of $25,500 as the potential maximum target before starting a new downtrend.
“Nearly 40% of Bitcoin has been pumped into US dollars. Huge potential, tracing. Buy The Dip,” fellow Jibon’s account continued in more comments on Twitter.
Meanwhile, a slightly more optimistic Crypto Tony said scammers will be “waiting” if the high range can hold.
Given the potential similarities between the Bitcoin chart now and March 2020, BTCfuel added that an additional hack was not off the cards.
Doubts emerge about Ethereum’s career
Meanwhile, the impressive performance across altcoins put the largest altcoin (ETH) in the spotlight after ETH/USD gained over 11%.
Related: Bitcoin Dominance Reaches 6-Month Low as Barometer Announces New ‘Alternate Season’
The pair extended gains on the day, surpassing $1,900 for the first time since June 6 and now approaching the psychologically significant $2,000 mark.
CPI momentum has been added to the already exciting Ethereum market, with the Goerli Testnet consolidation – a major preparatory step for the full merger event in September – successfully concluding.
“Since the start of this bear market rally, in mid-June, Ethereum has been gaining dominance in terms of trading volume relative to Bitcoin. In the past few days, Ethereum and Bitcoin Dominance have crossed,” Maartuun, a contributing analyst at on-chain data platform CryptoQuant, wrote in Blog post on Aug 10.
Maartuun cautioned that historical precedent however did not favor a sustained rally across the cryptocurrency should ETH continue to lead ETH.
“Ethereum is clearly very popular on exchanges, due to the dominance gained. This makes sense due to the upcoming 2.0 consolidation,” he continued.
“However, in my 5 years of experience in the cryptocurrency market, the recovery led by Ethereum is not usually the healthiest for the market. As I have already read in my previous analysis, I am very conservative. Especially since Ethereum has already made a >100% move. from the lowest levels.”
