Bitcoin bulls inspired by Jay Powell’s comments; $11,000 is the next major aim

• Bitcoin bulls have become louder with their enthusiastic forecasts.
• BTC/USD needs to stay above $10,000 to retain bullish bias.

BTC/USD is changing hands at $10,273, off the recent high reached at $10,485. The first digital currency has gained over 5% in recent 24 hours amid a strong bullish rally across the market. Notably, Bitcoin’s market share dropped below 63% to 62.6% as many top altcoins demonstrated more spectacular results.

Only 11% of Bitcoin holders are losing money at the current prices, which is a positive signal for the market. However, the overall picture looks neutral at this stage as the market is likely to consolidate gains after a sharp price increase on Tuesday.

Bitcoin bulls are everywhere

The Chairman of the Federal Reserves System Jerome Powell stressed the importance of digital payment privacy, speaking in the Congress on Tuesday. Apart from that, he confirmed that the central bank was considering the idea of a digital dollar and named Facebook’s Libra project as a factor that forced then to speed up the process. Those comments served as a bullish trigger for Bitcoin and pushed the price above $10,000 in a matter of minutes. Moreover, the coin hit the new high of 2020 amid snowballing bullish sentiments.

Panelists of “Bitcoin Alert” on CNBC’s “Fast Money” put more fuel to the fire with another portion of optimistic forecasts. They cited irresponsible money-printing policies of global central banks, flight to safety and upcoming halving as the main reasons for Bitcoin’s long-term growth.

BTC/USD: technical picture

At the time of writing,  BTC/USD is well-supported by $10,150 (50% Fibo retracement for the downside move from July 2019 high to December 2019 low), followed by psychological $10,000. This area is likely to stop the downside correction and create a precondition for another bullish wave. If it is broken, the sell-off may be extended towards $9,700 (Tuesday’s low).

On the upside, the initial barrier comes at $10,500. This area includes October 25, 2019 high that stopped the recovery and triggered a sell-off towards December lows. Once it is out of the way, the upside is likely to gain traction with the next focus on $11,000, reinforced by 61.8% Fibo retracement.

BTC/USD daily chart