Is it possible to earn $70k each week?
Bitcoin’s price surged to a new peak above $64,200 on March 4th as bullish traders eagerly jumped on the bandwagon before ETFs resumed trading. In a surprising turn of events, on-chain data reveals that despite a 6% retracement from last week’s peak, speculative traders in the derivatives market continued to double down on their bullish bets for BTC. After three years of stagnation, could Bitcoin finally reclaim a new all-time high above $70,000 this week?
Compared to the previous week, BTC traders have increased their leveraged bets by 300%. On March 4th, Bitcoin achieved another significant milestone by surpassing the $64,000 mark for the first time in 840 days, dating back to November 15th, 2021. However, buying pressure in the crypto market cooled down after Bitcoin ETFs, which have been the major drivers of the ongoing rally, closed trading on March 1st. As a result, the price of BTC retraced 6% towards the $60,000 support level.
Despite this price consolidation, on-chain data indicates that Bitcoin speculative traders remain overwhelmingly bullish. Santiment’s aggregate funding rate data, which monitors changes in fees paid by perpetual futures traders to opposing positions holders, shows that Bitcoin bulls are still paying record fees to keep their long contracts open. This demonstrates their conviction that BTC will experience another major upswing in the week ahead.
The BTC funding rate has remained unusually high since the price retracement from $64,000 on February 28th. The current BTC aggregate funding rate value of 0.06% on March 3rd is a significant increase of 300% compared to the opening value of 0.02% recorded on February 27th. Typically, such elevated positive funding rates indicate that leveraged BTC long position holders are paying higher fees than usual to short traders, anticipating greater profit margins if prices continue to rise in the near-term.
Furthermore, when this market signal occurs during a price consolidation phase, it suggests that traders intend to defend their positions and wait for a rebound in the short-term rather than exit. The last time BTC traders raised funding rates above 0.06% was on January 3rd, when the positive speculation surrounding Bitcoin ETFs approval was at its peak. Within that week, BTC price soared 10% to reach $47,000, a 21-month high at the time.
Considering the current market dynamics, the 300% increase in funding rates suggests that Bitcoin price is more likely to advance towards $70,000 rather than risk losing the $60,000 support level in the coming week. This is supported by IntoTheBlock’s global in/out of money data, which shows that about 97% of existing Bitcoin holders are currently in profitable positions. The majority of these holders may be reluctant to sell, reducing selling pressure and enabling BTC to maintain a relatively high support level above $60,000.
If Bitcoin ETFs enter another buying frenzy when trading opens for the week on March 4th, highly leveraged bulls could seize the opportunity to finally reclaim a new all-time high price of $70,000. However, reaching $70,000 may not be smooth sailing, as bears could make a last-ditch effort to push back the rally once BTC prices approach $65,000.
The chart indicates that there is a final cluster of 193,000 addresses that acquired 48,380 BTC three years ago at an average price of $65,164. A wave of profit-taking from these holders could significantly slow down the Bitcoin price rally towards $70,000.
In other news, the US EIA plans to scrap Bitcoin mining survey data and is seeking public input for a new proposal. Stay updated by following us on Google News.
