Bitcoin traders split on $40K chances as altcoins eye potential ‘80%–150%’ gains

Bitcoin (BTC) circled $32,000 on Thursday after excitement over fresh comments by Elon Musk resulted in the strengthening of support.

BTC bulls regroup at $32,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD ranging between $31,500 and $32,000 overnight on Wednesday hours after Musk joined others in praising Bitcoin during a conference panel.

As Cointelegraph reported, Musk’s words came over broadly positive and less critical than many had assumed they would be — this, in turn, led to a brief price surge that topped out above $32,800.

Thereafter, familiar resistance kicked in, and $32,400 once more became the level to flip, a feat that Bitcoin has yet to achieve.

Nonetheless, previous gains from below $30,000 remained intact, and there was equally little evidence of a major retracement about to kick in on Thursday.

“If we look at the price action of Bitcoin, we can clearly see and state that we’re holding above $31K,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe said.

Independent analyst and trader Keith Wareing was neutral about the Musk episode. He argued that since no resistance levels had truly cracked, nothing had fundamentally changed in the short-term BTC price landscape.

Elon pump (yay)Rejected bang on, literally bang fucking on the handle (booo)But TA is a load of bullshit so it means nothing right?Wake me up when we break and close above $42300, otherwise it’s still chopsville pic.twitter.com/58V1cO0txq

As such, buy and sell positions among traders likewise continued their trend from earlier in the week — with the addition of $33,000 slowly forming a resistance zone and support conversely stepping in at $31,000.

Van de Poppe: Altcoins will boom if Bitcoin takes off

Altcoins likewise cemented gains which commonly ranged between 5% and 10% on the day.

Related: Altcoins secure double-digit gains after Bitcoin surges toward $33K

Dogecoin (DOGE), which began its run-up ahead of Musk’s appearance, traded still below $0.20 at the time of writing, with daily returns nearing a more modest 8%.

Van de Poppe added that a scenario under which Bitcoin rises to range resistance at $40,000 or higher would have a much more pronounced impact on altcoin markets.

“This would lead altcoins to run 80-150% from here,” he forecast.

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market capitalization, was back at $2,000, launching away from support levels after briefly losing its 2021 higher lows trend earlier in the week.