Bitcoin is approaching $55,000, and the March small target of $63,000 is "just around the corner"!

On Monday, Eastern Time, Bitcoin broke the tepid and dull trend of the past week and broke through $54,000 with a strong force. It hit a high of $54,965.26 during the session and was close to $55,000, setting a 15-month high.

At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $54,460.00, up 5% over the past 24 hours, according to CMC data.

The vast majority of the altcoin market was boosted by Bitcoin. Ethereum rose more than 2% to close at $3,173.87; SOL rose more than 5%; ADA rose about 4%; and Polygon 's MATIC token rose 8%.

Cryptocurrency stocks soared. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) and Michael Saylor -helmed MicroStrategy (MSTR) both rose 17% on the day. Large bitcoin miners Marathon Digital (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) rose 22% and 15%, respectively.

With just three days left in February, Bitcoin is on track to post a 27% monthly gain.

TradingView data shows that investors have also shown strong trading interest in U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with BlackRock 's IBIT recording the largest daily trading volume (over $1 billion) since its listing. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, including Grayscale GBTC, had a single-day trading volume of $3.2 billion, the second highest in history.

Bitcoin price target is $63,000 in March

The rise was also accompanied by a rise in the premium for bitcoin on Coinbase compared to other exchanges, suggesting demand is coming from U.S. investors.

Ryan Rasmussen, an analyst at Bitwise Asset Management, said: "Today is the settlement day for Bitcoin futures, which has led to the price increase we have seen. We are approaching a window where we typically see traders positioning themselves ahead of the Bitcoin halving, which will occur in the second half of April. I suspect this is the day when people start buying bullish positions ahead of the halving."

"Bitcoin has been hovering around $52,000 for the past two weeks and is looking for an opportunity to break out," said Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer .

JPMorgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou noted in a recent report that after a January consolidation, retail interest in cryptocurrencies rebounded in February and became an important driver of price increases. He pointed to three key catalysts that help explain the new retail interest: Bitcoin’s halving and Ethereum’s next technical upgrade (both of which JPMorgan believes are already reflected in the price) and the potential approval of a spot Ethereum ETF.

Today’s rally is a decisive breakout of one of the important resistance levels that preceded BTC’s record high. Cryptocurrency analytics firm Swissblock said in a Telegram market update that “BTC now appears to have finally broken out of the stubborn range it has been stuck in since February 15. Momentum is strong and everything is set to sail.”

Swissblock analysts added that the next level for Bitcoin price target is the $57,000 to $58,000 range, after which a new all-time high will be reached .

Analysts at research firm Matrixport said their Bitcoin price target of $63,000 by March 2024, set in October 2022 , is still achievable, especially given the timing of the next halving cycle.

“Historically, Bitcoin has also tended to rally on halvings, although the last halving cycle was heavily impacted by stimulus injections from governments around the world in the wake of COVID-19,” Matrixport researchers wrote in a recent report.

Analysts say macroeconomic conditions are driving investors toward "safe haven" assets. Some point to the fact that euro zone interest rate expectations are falling faster than they are rising in the U.S., which will cause the euro to fall against the dollar.

“A more persistent erosion of trust in the strength of the U.S. economy, given geopolitical trends, internal politics, and growing pressures on the banking sector and job market, could encourage a closer look at ‘uncorrelated’ non-sovereign currencies like Bitcoin and gold,” said Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter.

In the futures market, CME hedge funds’ short open interest hit an all-time high of about $3.83 billion, according to CME data. However, long open interest held by asset managers, or exchange-traded funds, also hit an all-time high of $3.58 billion.

Rebecca Stevens, senior research analyst at The Block, noted: “Both hit new highs in the week that the spot Bitcoin ETF was approved, and the trend is consistent with the BTC price trend, but this shows that institutional bets on Bitcoin have not really been reduced after the launch.”

Some technical analysts expect a pullback to be imminent.

“On-chain data and Bitcoin price charts suggest that a correction in Bitcoin prices could be in the cards in the coming weeks,” data firm CryptoQuant wrote in a blog post on Sunday.

The company’s analysts based their predictions on the metric “Short-Term Holders SOPR,” short for “Spending Output Profit Ratio,” which divides the current value of sold Bitcoin by its value at the time of purchase. CryptoQuant concluded: “It looks like Bitcoin could drop to the $48,000 region.”