Bitcoin surges 8%, Mike Novogratz: “It is expected to reach $30,000 this quarter”

Terminal data showed that the crypto market rose across the board in the past 24 hours, with Bitcoin rising more than 8% in 24 hours, breaking through $24,000 for the first time in two weeks, and achieving its largest single-day increase in about a month. Ethereum rose 5.5% and traded at $1,645.

Although stronger economic data reflects continued inflationary pressures, which could extend the Fed's path of rate hikes. For example, the US retail sales data for January released earlier rebounded and exceeded expectations, and the New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos Trust Company to stop issuing new stablecoins BUSD , causing regulatory panic, the crypto market seems to be challenging the saying that "good news is bad news."

Riyad Carey, research analyst at crypto data firm Kaiko , commented that the BUSD news brought some additional catalysts to the crypto markets, which had been largely priced in, with some regulatory concerns — as well as immediate concerns about BUSD — easing.

Coinglass shows that as of this writing, $108.38 million in liquidations have occurred in the past four hours — most of which occurred in short positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Cryptocurrency-related stocks also rose sharply, with exchange Coinbase (COIN ) and Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) both rising 15%, and MicroStrategy (MSTR) rising more than 9%.

Deribit 's Bitcoin Volatility Index (BTC DVol) remained stable, last reading 48 on Wednesday and 50 on Monday, still well above its all-time lows, which is in line with the sentiment in the Bitcoin market after the CPI data was released. Craig Erlam, an analyst at broker Oanda, told Barron's that the resilience of the crypto market is encouraging despite the negative sentiment in the macro environment.

Analyst Michael Boutros tweeted that Bitcoin is now testing February’s opening range high.

Rakesh Upadhyay, an analyst with 15 years of experience in financial market trading, believes that Bitcoin rebounded from the $21,480 level on February 14 and reached the 20-day exponential moving average ($22,235), which shows that bulls are trying to stop the correction near the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of $21,228. If the bulls push the price up and sustain it above $22,800, it may continue to rebound to $23,500 and then to $24,255. It is expected that both bulls and bears will sway in this area for a while.

If the bears want to strengthen their positions, they will have to aggressively defend the $22,800 level and sink the price below $21,228. If they do so, the BTC/USDT pair could extend the correction to the 50% retracement level of $20,294. The deeper the correction, the longer it may take for the next leg up to start.

Well-known short-term trader Skew called on investors to pay attention to this week's trend in a tweet on February 14, pointing out that BTC/USD is now in a "critical area". The combination of a stronger dollar, bond yields, and stock market performance has set up a bearish scenario for risky assets as a whole. The price of Bitcoin will either rise to $28,000 or fall to $19,000. Skew said: "I think we are preparing for the next big move, and the next few days are important. Judging from the 4-hour trend chart, $22,500 is a strong support, and the price is consolidating above the 19-day moving average; reclaiming this level is very beneficial for BTC, and failure will lead to a pullback."

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said at a Bank of America conference on Wednesday that there is a good chance that bitcoin will return to $30,000 by the end of next month - a far cry from the $500,000 he once predicted, but still nearly 25% higher than the current price.

He said: "When I see the price action, when I see the excitement from clients calling, and the FOMO increasing, I would not be surprised if BTC hits $30,000 by the end of this quarter. What makes me doubt whether we can reach an explosive return to old highs this year is that Chairman Powell is really doing what he says he is going to do, and I don't think the Fed is going to adjust and cut rates anytime soon."

As previously reported, Novogratz said he expects Bitcoin to climb to $500,000 by 2024. In December last year, he adjusted that prediction, saying he still expected it to reach that benchmark, but "not in five years."