Bitcoin pushes past $17,000. A week ahead focus is on Fed, digital currency group, Solana, Tron

Bitcoin conclusively pushed past $17,000 today, after witnessing a consistent decline in its volatility over the past eight weeks. BTC price recently climbed above the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) and the 200-day EMA. But there is still room for Bitcoin to fall, and the end of the current bear market won't be expected until the price surpasses the realized price, which is presently at $19.7K. Until then, the negative trend is expected to continue. As things stand, the Bitcoin (BTC) price is currently being traded at $17,240.59. This represents an increase of 1.73% on the day, in contrast to a gain of 3.62% during the week as per the cryptocurrency market tracker CoinMarketCap.

Analysts were quick to point out that price charts are still tilting bearish, although Coinbase Institutional's David Duong wrote in a report that a successful push past the $17,100 mark might put bitcoin on track toward the next technical level around $17,800. According to FundStrat's Sean Farrell, blockchain data suggests there are plenty of ready buyers with "appetite to buy BTC at the very specific level of $16,00-$17,200."

"This paints an incredible picture of a strong buy wall at current market prices and suggests a strong bottom is forming," Farrell wrote in a report.

In the week ahead, bitcoin traders will be monitoring a key report on U.S. inflation – also theoretically an input to the Federal Reserve's calculations. The central bank's monetary tightening last week was a big factor in bitcoin's 64% price decline last year, the worst annual performance in four years.

The largest asset by market capitalization has been trading in an increasingly narrow trading range since the FTX saga in November 2022. Contrary to popular belief, Bitcoin price could continue its climb against the USD.

Bitcoin Price Prediction

Before you decide whether Bitcoin is a good investment or not, you should know that all Bitcoin price predictions are speculative. That said, these predictions are educated guesses because they are based on a mix of fundamental and technical analysis.

Despite Bitcoin's shortcomings, analysts agree that during 2023 this crypto will still experience value growth, predicting its maximum value of $30,121 by the end of next year. However, it is more long-term that analysts expect Bitcoin to do well. For instance, analysts expect Bitcoin to trade at $200k or more in 2025.

So, Is Bitcoin a good investment?

When you study the past performance of a cryptocurrency, you familiarize yourself with how it moves. Some are more volatile than others, and some increase or decrease in a certain way. Technical analysis will enable you to make better Bitcoin price predictions.

Bitcoin being the first-ever successful cryptocurrency, gained traction faster than the rest. This has seen it gain traction, especially at institutional levels. This means it could gain value over time.

At its core, the value of bitcoin is determined by its inherent scarcity. Like Gold, it is a limited resource: only a finite supply of bitcoin can be mined and traded on the market, which means that its price will likely continue to rise as demand grows. This has made it extremely attractive to investors eager to get in on the increasingly lucrative cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin's unique combination of scarcity and utility will keep investors coming back for more. And as long as that demand continues to grow, so will the profits generated by trading this increasingly valuable commodity.

Bitcoin can be used for everyday payments. This is done peer-to-peer, so the payment cannot be controlled by any government. Thanks to its scarcity, Bitcoin could become a store of value, just like Gold. Bitcoin's decentralized nature makes it perfect as a store-of-value cryptocurrency.