Bitcoin Price Rallies Above $10,000: What Happened?

Bitcoin’s price surged past $10,100 in a surprise rally Sunday, July 26, after the majority of the altcoins finished their own price rallies. The move suggested that selling has been exhausted and traders spilled their profits from altcoins back to the benchmark cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin rose to as high as $10,111 on crypto exchange Binance on Sunday after five days of price appreciation and almost 2 months of trading sideways in the $9,000 range. The initial move began on July 21, when the moving averages 7 and 25 crossed. The MACD also crossed on the same day, suggesting a bullish upward trend was forthcoming.

The significant move happened Sunday when Bitcoin finally breached past the $10,000 psychological resistance.

The price appreciation came after five days of price increase in Ethereum and other major altcoins. Ethereum rallied from $229 to $311 in seven days, influenced by developments in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space and the final testnet for Ethereum 2.0, scheduled on Aug. 4.

Several altcoins also had price rallies Saturday before the Bitcoin run. Cardano (ADA) surged from $0.12 to $0.14, an 18% increase. Litecoin (LTC) moved from $44 to $49 (12%), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) move from $234 to $254 (7%).

But the altcoins stopped rallying at the moment Bitcoin moved. Even tokens in the decentralized finance space paused their upward surge. Ethereum also declined to $319-$298, while other major altcoins only printed smaller gains. Outside the major altcoins is a different story. Chainlink (LINK), for example, continued its decline from $4.4 to $8.8 in 20 days, after posting a 104% increase in value.

The market behavior suggested investors are moving their profits to Bitcoin after they gained from the altcoin rallies. The minor gains of major altcoins Sunday suggested investors are hedging their bets only on major cryptocurrencies.

Traders are expecting Bitcoin to appreciate in the near future. Analysts PlanB's stock-to-flow model has suggested a price increase of up to $30,000 by December. Bloomberg’s Crypto Report in June predicted a revisit to $20,000 this year. Futures analyst Peter Brandt, whose trading career began in 1975, tweeted that his sentiment is toward a big movement on the world’s first cryptocurrency. “Massive symmetrical triangle in $BTC points to all-time highs, then $50k,” he said.