Bitcoin saw mixed progress on February 4 as a push towards $40,000 combined with yet more controversy over Elon Musk.
Data from CoinMarketCap and TradingView showed BTC/USD rising to highs of $38,750 on Thursday, failing to test resistance and falling to $37,000.
Musk makes it all about Dogecoin… again
The latest surge continues what began the day before, Bitcoin leaving the lower bounds of its $10,000 wide trading corridor in what analysts hoped would mean a retest of all-time highs.
In the event, growth stalled as the world’s richest man returned to Twitter to boost the fortunes of Dogecoin—and remove “#Bitcoin” from his biography.
“No highs, no lows, only Doge,” one of several tweets read, another describing the altcoin as “the people’s cryptocurrency.”
While Musk’s tweets form a separate, somewhat confusing, force of their own in crypto markets, an interview last week appeared to confirm that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO “supports” Bitcoin.
“Dogecoin is made as a joke to make fun of cryptocurrencies, obviously, but fate loves irony,” he added about DOGE.
Nonetheless, a conspicuous change was visible as Musk returned to social media after earlier claiming that he would be gone “for a while.” His biography was now empty, devoid of the Bitcoin endorsement which last week sent BTC/USD $5,000 higher in minutes.
For hodlers, however, the move seemed to have little resonance. Spot prices were not straying from established predictions, and the same short-term possibilities remained in place.
“#Bitcoin doing well,” popular trader Michaël van de Poppe summarized on Thursday.
“Trying to break the next resistance zone here after breaking the critical $35K area. That $35K area has to hold for continuation, but then we can test $40,500.”
Volatility remained elevated on the day, Bitcoin still up around 4.5% over the past 24 hours.
Trader: Shorters are “on the wrong side”
Beyond Musk, sentiment was buoyed by the results of a dedicated conference from MicroStrategy, the company which now owns in excess of 70,000 BTC.
With attendees of the online event numbering 1,400, CEO Michael Saylor said that the coming year would see multiple copycat moves.
“Traders are trying to short #Bitcoin as @michael_saylor teaches the CEOs of hundreds of companies how to buy,” fellow trader Scott Melker added. “Seems like the wrong side of the trade.”
On altcoin markets, meanwhile, the impact of Musk’s activity was much more striking. DOGE/USD had gained more than 65% at press time, capping weekly returns of more than 350%.
Ether, the largest altcoin by market cap which had earlier beaten all-time highs, also continued northwards, reaching $1,684 and since holding on to the majority of its gains.
“So far $ETH is mimicking the $BTC move. All time high, consolidate for about two weeks, break on strength,” Melker noted.
Bitcoin dominance was suffering as a result, dropping below 62% thanks to the strength of major cap altcoins.