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Bitcoin, Around $51K, Nears Upper Bound of 3-Year Price Trend

Upward-sloping price channel starting in late 2017 on weekly chart shows near-term resistance around $60,000.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:22 p.m. Published Mar 8, 2021, 5:37 p.m.

Weekly price chart shows long-term channel resistance, with 50-week volume weighted moving average shown in the blue line. (It flattened around 2018, preceding a downtrend).

Bitcoin's bull run over the past year may be showing signs of exhaustion as it pushes toward the upper bound of a three-year price channel, an analysis of chart patterns shows.

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The largest cryptocurrency by market value was changing hands around $51,000 as of 16:41 coordinated universal time (11:41 a.m. ET). Bitcoin (BTC) is up 75% for the year to date.

Upward price channel from 2017's high shows possible resistance for BTC around $60,000, which could cap upside.
A flattening of the 50-week volume weighted moving average (VWMA) would indicate a slowing long-term uptrend, similar to 2018. For now, that 50-week VWMA is climbing, currently around $22,000.
Traders should watch for a break below the 50-day volume weighted moving average to confirm a shift in trend.

Bitcoin Markets Technical Analysis

Damanick Dantes

Damanick was a crypto market analyst at CoinDesk where he wrote the daily Market Wrap and provided technical analysis. He is a Chartered Market Technician designation holder and member of the CMT Association. Damanick is also a portfolio strategist and does not invest in digital assets.