Bitcoin moving sideways: Is $25,000 or $30,000 next for BTC price till the end of the week? Report

• Although the Bitcoin price has seen some pullback, the BTC-to-Gold ratio hints at an upside move going ahead.
• Analysts are bullish for Bitcoin (BTC) with expected price targets of $50,000 and $100,000 over the next 12-18 months.

After some strong moves earlier this month, the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has recently come under significant selling pressure and is down by nearly 10 percent on the weekly chart. `As of press time, Bitcoin is trading at $27,387 with a market cap of $530 billion.

The recent Bitcoin price drop follows the broader market correction with analysts calling it a period of consolidation and healthy correction. Thus, after a staggering 80 percent gain in 2023, it is highly likely that Bitcoin could go through a period of some cooldown before the next rally. Speaking to CoinDesk, Sam Callahan, an analyst at bitcoin financial services firm Swan Bitcoin said:

Market participants seem to be exercising some caution in light of the heightened probability of the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates higher for longer, as well as several economic metrics signaling weakness in the economy.

However, despite the current price drop, the Bitcoin-to-Gold ratio continued to move upwards, as per the crypto data firm Kaiko. At the beginning of the year, one BTC equaled 9 ounces of gold, however, the same ratio is now at 14 ounces of gold.

Kaiko stated that the Bitcoin-to-Gold ratio had dropped to the lowest levels during the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX back in November 2022. It also added:

A rising ratio means that BTC is outperforming safe-haven gold despite the ongoing macro uncertainty and is a bullish signal.

Bitcoin bull case scenario

This recent pullback in the Bitcoin price hasn’t deterred investors from staying bullish on Bitcoin. As Bitcoin has managed to show strong resilience to macro events like the banking crisis and rising interest rates, investors are looking at the next big event i.e. Bitcoin halving which could play a major role in determining the next price surge.

The Bitcoin halving basically cuts down the number of tokens received by Bitcoin miners as part of their work. As BTc halving reduces the tokens in circulation, it helps to drive the price upwards.

With Bitcoin’s next halving event scheduled next year in mid-2024, analysts are giving different price targets for Bitcoin going ahead. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jamie Douglas Coutts expects the BTC price to touch $50,000 by the 2024 Bitcoin halving event.

Bitcoin cycles bottom around 12-18 months prior to the halving and this cycle structure looks similar to the past ones, albeit many things have changed — while the network is vastly stronger, Bitcoin has never endured a prolonged severe economic contraction.