Bitcoin Price Prediction: Can BTC Stay Above $44,000?

Daily Bitcoin BTC Technical Analysis

Last Updated February 17th 2022
8 Min Read
  • The Bitcoin price fell back during the ongoing session and is currently down by just over 1%. 
  • BTC had a fairly strong start to the week and had pushed up by almost 5% on Tuesday. 

The Bitcoin price fell back during the current sentiment, as sellers look to push BTC below $44,000. BTC had ended the weekend in the red, dropping marginally on Sunday. However, the price recovered on Monday, rising by 1.08% and moving to $42,561. BTC remained bullish on Tuesday, as the price rose by nearly 5% and settled at $44,536 before dropping back during the ongoing session. 

Bitcoin Price Chart Indicates BTC Could Recover, Push Towards $44,500 

The Bitcoin price started the previous weekend in the red, dropping by 0.49% on Saturday before recovering on Sunday, rising by over 2% and settling at $42,409. BTC continued to push higher on Monday, as it pushed above the 50-day SMA and rose to $43,887. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the price remained bullish, rising by 0.52% and 0.72%, respectively, and moving to $44,434. Despite the bullish sentiment, BTC fell back on Thursday, falling over 2% and settling at $43,519.

Image: BTC/USD daily

BTC/USD daily chart 021722

The Bitcoin price remained in the red on Friday, falling by 2.55% and dropping to $42,410. The weekend saw BTC remain in the red, falling by 0.36% on Saturday and Sunday to end the weekend at $42,106. The price recovered on Monday, rising by 1.08%, and then rising by almost 5% on Tuesday, rising to $44,536 before dropping back during the ongoing session.

We can see that the MACD is currently bullish, indicating that we could see the price push higher.

Looking at IntoTheBlock’s IOMAP for the Bitcoin price, we can see that BTC faces strong resistance at around $48,550. At this price level, over 2.2 million addresses have sold more than 1.1 million BTC.

Image: IntoTheBlock 

BTC/USD volume chart 021722

The 4-hour Bitcoin price chart shows us that BTC had pushed up to $45,034 on the 10th. The price fell back from this level, dropping below the 20-bar SMA and falling to $43,383. BTC was able to post a marginal recovery from this level but could not move past the 20-bar SMA. BTC fell further from this level, dropping below the 50-bar SMA and falling to $42,172 on the 12th. With the 50 and 20-bar SMAs acting as resistance at this level, BTC could not move past this point, rising to $42,641 and then dropping to $41,925 on the 14th. BTC was able to make a strong recovery from this level, pushing past the 20 and 50-bar SMAs and rising to $44,280 before dropping back to its current level of $44,188.

We can see that the MACD is bullish, indicating that we could see the price push higher.

Image: BTC/USD 4-hour

BTC/USD 4-hour chart 021722

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee Says $100,000,000,000,000 Investor Class Could Send Bitcoin (BTC) to $200,000

The managing partner of investment research firm Fundstrat Global Advisors, Tom Lee, is singling out a category of investors whose involvement could send Bitcoin (BTC) to a six-figure price. Lee said in a CNBC interview that baby boomers are not investing in Bitcoin, but their involvement may trigger a rally that would increase the flagship crypto asset’s price to over $200,000.

“If I had to say what’s the simplest way for a big step function to happen in crypto, it’s really getting existing generations of investors in the US, not new investors, to actually be willing to allocate to Bitcoin. And 76% of all the wealth in America is controlled by people over age 65. So that’s nearly $100 trillion held by people that think Bitcoin is still kind of a hobby or things that people who live in the basement play with.

I think regulation could actually unlock a lot of that movement. Just imagine 2% out of $100 trillion allocated to crypto. You could see a five to 10, 15 times increase in total network value.”

In December of 2021, Lee predicted that Bitcoin would hit $200,000 in 2022. The Fundstrat Global Advisors’ managing partner also says that some of the biggest risks to cryptocurrencies include the development of technology that could compromise classical cryptographic algorithms used to keep the Bitcoin network secure.

“I think the biggest downside for crypto will actually be a vulnerability exposed in Bitcoin because it is the most important blockchain and the one with the most value stored on it." 

He added two things that could happen. 

"One is if the cost of energy globally fell to zero because if you don’t have to spend money to protect a security network, then it means someone can launch a 51% attack. The second is that cryptographic hash becomes exposed. Meaning someone finds a way to actually, whether it is quantum [computers], to essentially defeat the proof-of-work concept itself. So I’d say those are the biggest downside risk.”

Warren Davidson’s New Bill Bans Federal Agencies From Restricting Crypto

US Congressman Warren Davidson recently introduced the “Keep Your Coins Act” to protect private bitcoin and crypto usage in his country. Specifically, it prohibits Federal Agencies from interfering with the right to self-custody and to transact P2P. It restricts their ability to ban “self-hosted” cryptocurrency wallets

In Canada, the government reduced the legitimacy of all crowdfunding platforms by prohibiting them to give to the Canadian truckers the money people donated. X Strategies’ Greg Price said:

“Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister says, under the Emergencies Act, banks can immediately freeze or suspend bank accounts without a court order and be protected from civil liability.“

To that, Warren Davidson responded:

“Our office will be introducing legislation in the US House of Representatives shortly to protect Americans from this version of overt theft. A number of people will undoubtedly recognize that, 'Bitcoin fixes this.' That’s only true with self-custody. Account-based crypto has similar vulnerabilities.”

While describing the Canadian truckers situation, controversial TV presenter Tucker Carlson said:

“Tally Coin, for example, is a small crowdfunding service that uses Bitcoin. It’s not controlled by banks, that’s the point. They’re hosting a fundraiser for the truckers. Now, why is this appealing? No one can steal the money. No government can pressure anyone to turn the money over, because governments don’t control crypto.”

According to Davidson, Bitcoin and crypto act “as a substitute for currency but may not possess all the attributes (including legal tender status).”

Man Named in $3.6B Bitfinex Bitcoin Laundering Scam Detained

A federal judge in the U.S. ordered the detention of one member of a couple from Manhattan arrested last week for conspiracy to launder billions of dollars in stolen bitcoin from the infamous 2016 Bitfinex hack. The husband was ordered to be detained because he is supposedly a master at using fake identities and deemed a flight risk.

Chief Judge Beryl Howell granted the couple, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, bond. Their parents’ homes were posted as security. The Judge said:

“Their financial resources could be easily used to facilitate flight…and could all be used to evade [liability].”

It appears that Lichtenstein and Morgan could have been preparing to flee, as Lichtenstein had Russian citizenship before COVID-19 hit. Last week, the Justice Department seized over $3.6B in laundered bitcoin connected to the Manhattan couple. The couple had posed as seasoned crypto entrepreneurs, with Morgan adopting the persona of someone with a “fearless entrepreneurial spirit and hacker mindset.”

The funds allegedly laundered were worth $70M in 2016 when a hacker attacked Bitfinex and stole the funds via 2000 illegitimate transactions. Keys to these funds were found in the cloud storage of Lichtenstein. After this discovery, U.S. authorities took custody of the funds. However, they had not yet obtained evidence that the couple played any part in the hack.

Prosecutors said they had found counterfeit Russian identity documents on Lichtenstein’s cloud storage account for a male and female. The couple had been arrested in their New York apartment. Prosecutors sought to detain the couple because they had millions of dollars in Bitcoin and had bank accounts in Ukraine and Russia.

Crypto assets, Stablecoins Pose Risk to Global Financial Stability: FBS

The crypto market could pose a threat to global financial stability, according to a recent Financial Stability Board (FSB) report. The FSB, an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, identified vulnerabilities related to unbacked assets such as Bitcoin, stablecoins such as USDT, and decentralized finance (DeFi).

The FSB identified liquidity mismatch, rising use of leverage, concentration risks due to high dependence on trading platforms, and lack of regulatory oversights as concerns surrounding the industry. FSB highlighted stablecoins as being susceptible to sudden and disruptive runs on their reserves through credit and operational risks, with the potential to spill over to short-term funding markets.

Stablecoins have already drawn the attention of global regulators including the U.S. and Hong Kong, with the latter recently releasing a discussion paper on stablecoins to collect public feedback on how to proceed with regulation.

While direct connections between the crypto industry and traditional markets remain limited at this stage, the FSB urged global lawmakers to take pre-emptive approaches to regulate these assets. 

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) recently published a report focusing on addressing crypto-asset issues from three dimensions — stablecoins used in payments, investor protection, and authorized institutions’ interface with crypto assets.

The regulator said stablecoins have the potential to “become a commonly acceptable means to make payment” but they “may not fall readily into the existing financial regulatory frameworks.” Like other major economies, Hong Kong regulators are looking at ways to increase scrutiny over the burgeoning crypto sector in the city in a bid to contain risks surrounding financial stability and crimes.

Bitcoin Price Is Expected To Reach These Levels

The Bitcoin price chart shows us that BTC has clawed back, managing to recover and push towards $44,300. If the current sentiment persists, we could see BTC push towards $44,500.