Bitcoin (BTC) held close to the $40,000 mark on December 3 after weekend gains reinforced a "strong" uptrend.
Bitcoin leaves $60 million in shorts hanging
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a new BTC price rally, which took BTC/USD to new 2023 highs of $39,730.
These built on upward momentum, which had come in days before, like Bitcoin hit $39,000 for the first time since mid-2022.
With derivatives leading into the end of the Wall Street trading week, commentators had argued that spot buyers needed to step up to maintain momentum. Events eventually took an unexpected turn, with a rapid rally across Bitcoin and altcoins wiping out previous resistance.
As part of the coverage on X (formerly Twitter), popular trader Skew suggested that "someone just ran all the shorts across the board seemingly on most pairs."
This in turn put BTC price behavior around the weekly open into question - CME Bitcoin futures closed the week at $39,225, leaving a gap between it and the spot price, which would normally be "filled" via a dip.
Analyzing the status quo, however, other Daan Crypto Trades traders predicted that this time would be different.
"Anytime $BTC is in a strong trend (up or down) and especially when it's trading at annual highs or price discovery. You tend to have these weekend moves that break out and leave a lot of people behind. Often creates a gap that never closed or not until weeks later,” part of a X posts explained.
"In strong trend environments, trading the CME price doesn't have a very strong advantage anymore. It's great during sideways chop but not like this."
Daan Crypto Trades agreed that the area around Friday's closing price had offered an opportunity to "fall" short.
"Because I thought a big move over the weekend was quite likely, I didn't share the regular CME chart. So far the suspicion was correct and people trying to short this move would have been right," he wrote.
Data from statistics resource CoinGlass showed about $30 million in BTC shorts liquidating on both December 1st and 2nd.
BTC price in "all-the-way-UP mode"
With $40,000 in sight, market participants meanwhile turned their attention to bullish signals on longer time frames.
Related: Bitcoin ETF Will Drive 165% BTC Price Gain in 2024 — Standard Chartered
For popular Twitter commentator Alan Tardigrade, BTC/USD was far removed from a descending channel in place since its November 2021 record of $69,000.
“Bitcoin has entered All-the-way-UP mode,” he commented on a chart showing how recent BTC price action had decisively left the trend.
Fellow commentator BitQuant, known for his bullish views on Bitcoin in the current environment, saw a return to the highs before "any correction" could take hold.
Both perspectives channeled behavior from past Bitcoin bull markets.
Yes, all the way up to the previous record highs and then a little correction to give the bears some hope https://t.co/2ovCs4mvGi
— BitQuant (@BitQua) December 3, 2023
In September, BitQuant made the bold prediction BTC/USD breaks all-time highs ahead of next block grant halving in April 2024 — just four months away.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should do their own research when making a decision.