Bitcoin Hits $23.7K As BTC Price Analyst Calls SVB Dip ‘Bear Trap’

Bitcoin (BTC) hit its highest since the beginning of the month on March 13 as US bank stocks saw their biggest rally in history.

BTC price sees ‘phenomenal’ decline

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a thoroughly bullish hourly candle for BTC/USD, which hit $23,725 on Bitstamp.

The move was eagerly anticipated by market participants, many of whom had warned of extreme volatility at the Wall Street open.

This came true, with Bitcoin and altcoins benefiting from intense uncertainty surrounding banking stocks, especially when trading started.

The fallout from The failure of two more American banks at the weekend was strongly felt, not only at home, but in Europe, where the banks also experienced heavy losses.

“Massive Bitcoin move. Now facing next resistance zone (I couldn’t get $21.6k),” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, reacted.

“Trend is back, buying dip on S/R flips works the game. Resistance around $23.3-23.6K, if it stops and consolidates -> altcoins should continue.”

Trader and analyst Rekt Capital, who previously argued that the monthly candle needed to close to confirm a long-term trend break, called Bitcoin’s fall below $20,000 the week before a “bear trap.”

“The way BTC has recovered in such a short time just shows that the fall to ~$20,000 was a bear trap,” he wrote in one of many tweets as BTC/USD hit $23,500.

Rekt Capital called the rally “phenomenal” in further analysis, with 18% added versus the local lows of March 10.

“If $22.4k holds as the new floor, that’s all and a bit more that price needs to accelerate to Main Resistance in the $24.1k-$25k range and really break through,” trader Gaah continued.

“We may have more price explosions, watch out in that region.”

Gaah shared a liquidity map from Caue Oliveira, head of research and chain analysis at Brazilian crypto insights firm BlockTrends:

Bank shares halted as contagion spreads to Europe

Outside of crypto, the picture slowly improved for US stocks – with the exception of some banks.

Related: Fed Starts ‘Stealth QE’ – 5 Things to Know in Bitcoin This Week

Some of the worst performers of the day included First Republic Bank, which lost 76% to see trading halt shortly after the open.

Overall as founder Brian Roemmele notedmore US bank stocks were halted than ever before in history.

In addition to reassessing the likelihood of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes continuing on March 22, markets were meanwhile also reducing expectations that the European Central Bank will increase by 0.5% this week.

Among European losses on the day was the already exposed Credit Suisse, which at the time of writing was down over 7% to new lows.

“The problem for Credit Suisse (and others like it) is that it cannot cover deposit flight by borrowing in the money markets. It can only go to the Swiss National Bank, in effect for an additional bailout. Will the SNB play ball?” Alasdair Macleod, Head of Research at Goldmoney, asked.