Here’s what bitcoin’s chart says about its next moves after it breached $50,000 this week

Published Tue, Feb 13 20243:05 PM ESTUpdated Tue, Feb 13 20243:41 PM EST

Bitcoin broke through $50,000 to start the week and although a stubbornly high inflation reading has pulled it lower since, the cryptocurrency is still in safe territory, according to chart analysts. On Monday, the cryptocurrency finished above $50,000, at one point rising to $50,334.00, its highest level since December 2021. Technical analysts had expected this breakthrough last month , when bitcoin kicked off the new year with a rally that seemed to be heading toward $48,000. It's retesting that level now, however, and it was due for the slight pullback, according to Wolfe Research's Rob Ginsberg. "We were looking for it to work lower into the $39,000 to $40,000 range and become oversold, before playing for a bounce," Ginsberg told CNBC on Tuesday. "It tested that level back in late January and the oversold signal developed, which has provided a powerful reaction," he added. "Now back to overbought, I would expect it to digest this recent move and back fill a bit into the $47,000 range. [It's] still shaping up to challenge the old highs at some point." BTC.CM= YTD mountain Bitcoin year-to-date Other chart analysts echoed that investors need not be too concerned about a significant decline from here. For one, $50,000 as a level holds little significance technically. "$50,000 in itself is not really an important level, other than being a nice rounded psychological number," said Julius de Kempenaer, senior technical analyst at StockCharts.com. "The important breaking level was around $48,000. That is where the peaks from March 2022 and January 2024 were lining up and where additional supply showed up briefly before it got exhausted." With bitcoin still above $46,000, its upward trend is still intact. The coin also has key catalysts such as increasing inflows into the newly trading bitcoin exchange-traded funds and upcoming bitcoin halving to help push it higher. "If and when bitcoin can hold up above the $46,000 to $48,000 area in the next few days, it will be setting the stage for a further rally," de Kempenaer said. "Old resistance becomes support and that $46,000 to $48,000 can then become the jumping board for a continuation of the rally." He added that he's eyeing $60,000 as the next level higher to watch — that was the key resistance in the second quarter of 2021, before bitcoin hit an initial record of about $64,900 in April of that year. Seven months later, it reached its current record of $68,982.20 on Nov. 10, 2021. Katie Stockton of Fairlead Strategies agreed the bitcoin chart supports "a long-term bullish bias." She's looking for consecutive weekly closes above $48,600, where the cryptocurrency stalled in January. If bitcoin can do that, it'll be on track for its next hurdle near $56,400, with its final resistance at about $64,900 before reaching new all-time highs, she said in a note Monday. "Both short and intermediate-term momentum are positive and reaccelerating, and there are no signs of upside exhaustion, suggesting a confirmed breakout is likely," Stockton said. Bitcoin is up 15% this year and 127% over the past 12 months.