- Bitcoin prices are technically bullish, must close above $3,800
- Lightning Network picking up, Domino’s Pizza now accepts Bitcoin via LN
- Participation levels have been shrinking, volumes behind a bull confirming bar must exceed 35k
From the look of things, Bitcoin adoption will be fast-tracked by the Lightning Network. Elizabeth Stark’s project recently got a boost. At this rate, it appears as if it’s a matter of when before BTC prices rally to $6,000.
Fundamentals
It’s the month of love, and it seems like merchants are in love with the Lightning Network. Many don’t agree with their off-chain option. Nonetheless, that is the modus operandi of Elizabeth Stark’s LN. Because of this implementation, the Bitcoin legacy network is scalable. Besides, it allows instant transactions without confirmation time worries.
These properties are perhaps the reason why the number of supporting nodes and channels are increasing. As nodes pick up, the total network capacity is also expanding and at the time of press, statistics indicate that the LN capacity is at $2.4 million—or around $645 BTC.
Remember, LN is still in beta. Now, new businesses are interested in allowing their clients to pay for merchandise or services using their Bitcoins via the LN. The latest addition is Domino’s Pizza, a multi-billion-dollar business with more than 15,000 branches all almost all continents of the world including China.
Candlestick Arrangements
Market participants are expectant, and after 13 months of damaging lows, BTC buyers are trying to wrestle control from bears. Prices are stable but encouragingly up 5.7 percent from last week’s close. All the same, BTC is under immense sell pressure despite gains of Feb 8 when at one point, the coin registered double-digit gains.
The good thing, despite possible downturns, is sellers are yet to reverse losses and trending inside Feb 8, high-volume, wide-ranging bar meaning buyers are technically in charge. However, there must be evidence from candlesticks. Therefore, it is only after prices race above at $3,800—according to data from BitFinex, that aggressive traders can comfortably load up on dips. Our immediate buy targets will remain unchanged at $4,500 with the pace of this target being hit depending on market participation levels.
Technical Indicators
In a defined trend, buyers—as we have mentioned, have to prove their mantle. Market participation levels have been low, shrinking in the last two months from around 33k in mid-Dec to about 10k as registered yesterday.
For buyers to be in control, a bar that prints above $3,800 triggering short-term bulls should have high volumes—exceeding 10k (recent averages) and 32k of Feb 8.
