- Bitcoin cleared its 50-day moving average on Sunday, setting the cryptocurrency up for more gains ahead.
- Technical analyst Katie Stockton sees bitcoin surging to $51,000 if it can clear certain resistance levels around $43,000.
- A surge to Stockton's target of $51,000 represents potential upside of more than 30% for bitcoin.
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Bitcoin's more than 15% surge over this past weekend helped the popular cryptocurrency decisively clear its 50-day moving average, which represents a key technical resistance level that sets bitcoin up for more gains ahead.
Technical analyst and founder of Fairlead Strategies Katie Stockton said in a note on Monday that bitcoin's recent rally could set it up for a surge to $51,000 if it clears another resistance hurdle around $43,000, representing potential upside of 32% from current levels. Stockton's $51,000 target for bitcoin was derived from fibonacci retracement levels.
The big resistance levels bitcoin faces before Stockton's $51,000 target include about $43,000, representing current cloud resistance, and $44,600, which currently represents bitcoin's 200-day moving average.
According to Stockton, bitcoin's move higher looks constructive after it staged a false breakdown below the highly-watched support level of $30,000. That brief decline last led to a spring higher as some bulls likely capitulated on their position, while some bears likely initiated new short positions after the key support level briefly broke.
"Bitcoin tested and held widely watched support near $30K in our anticipated 'spring' higher after it had gotten coiled up within the context of its long-term uptrend," Stockton explained, adding, "Importantly, both bitcoin and Ether have cleared their 50-day MAs on newly positive short-term momentum."
The move higher in bitcoin comes after rumors circulate that e-commerce giant Amazon could soon begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for its products.