Bitcoin, the first and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, hovered between $43,750 and $44,384 in early Saturday trading.
BTC had reached highs of $44,754 the day before after a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report lowered interest rate prospects for next year before the momentum slightly waned.
Bitcoin has risen more than 60% since the middle of October, when speculations about Bitcoin spot ETF approval first emerged.
The leading cryptocurrency was trading up 0.76% in the previous 24 hours to $43,825 as investors digested its quick surge to near $45,000 this week after breaking out from $38,000 a week ago.
Despite a slight pause in BTC’s momentum, traders still seem to set sights on the $50,000 price mark.
According to Bloomberg, options traders have been piling up bets on Bitcoin reaching $50,000 by January, when many market analysts expect the SEC to finally allow exchange-traded funds to hold the cryptocurrency directly.
In this sense, market observers anticipate that the current upswing will continue, with Bitcoin heading toward $50,000, where options strikes are clustering.
Meanwhile, the steady Bitcoin (BTC) price has fueled capital flight to altcoins. Cardano, the eighth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has risen as much as 24%, while Polkadot gained about 20%, and Avalanche is up about 22%.
On the upside, the key resistance level for BTC is $47,360. Analysts believe that if this resistance level until $52,000 is broken, Bitcoin might reach new all-time highs.
On the other hand, crypto analyst Willy Woo sees a Bitcoin CME price gap between $39,000 and $41,000, which could indicate that Bitcoin might retest these levels in the event of a price drop.