Bitcoin (BTC) enters a new week with a bang after sealing its highest weekly close since mid-June — can the good times continue?
After a volatile weekend, BTC/USD managed to restrict losses into the later portion of the weekend to produce a solid green candle on weekly timeframes.
In what could shape up to be the last “quiet” week of the summer, bulls have time on their hands in the absence of major macro market drivers involving the United States Federal Reserve.
Fundamentals remain strong on Bitcoin, which is due to increase its mining difficulty for a second time in a row in the coming days.
On derivatives markets, encouraging signs are also present, with higher price levels accompanied by bullish data over sentiment.
The question for hodlers now is thus how robust the rally is and whether it is just that: a bullish countermove within a broader bear market.
Cointelegraph presents five factors which may influence price this week and help decide on Bitcoin’s next steps.
Bitcoin embraces volatility after multi-week high close
At around $24,300, the Aug. 14 weekly close was the best in two months for BTC/USD.
The weekly chart shows a steady grind upwards continuing to take shape after the June lows, and last week’s candle totaled around $1,100 or 4.8%.
An impressive move by 2022, the gains sparked some volatility overnight into the first Wall Street trading day of the week, BTC/USD continuing to hit $25,200 on exchanges before reversing noticeably under the weekly close level.
Such moves characterized recent days, leading to little surprise for traders who continue to act cautiously on shorter timeframes.
“A new week begins, with the bears stepping in so far to retest some key levels,” popular trading account Crypto Tony summarized in part of his latest Twitter update on the day.
“Once again, we should see an interesting week with price action. Been all over the shop on the lower time frames.”
Should unpredictability keep coming, the chances of a downmove are clear, according to on-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators.
Following the close, the weekly chart began signaling “downward momentum,” it warned, while daily timeframes were “flat” as per its proprietary trading tools.
Its creator, Material Scientist, described this week as the “final week of the bear rally” in his own comments.
Still entertaining a much deeper correction — perhaps unsurprisingly — was gold…
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