Bitcoin (BTC) briefly topped $100,000 for the fourth time on Wednesday, with trader sentiment shifting from fear to greed as the price hovers between $90,000 and the six-figure level.
The largest cryptocurrency may require multiple attempts to reach $100,000, previous CoinDesk research has shown.
Since hitting an all-time high of around $108,000 on Dec. 17, bitcoin has made a series of lower highs, just as it did during the 2024 seven-month consolidation.
The $90,000 price level remains firm, however. It provided critical support and Bitcoin remained above since November 18, before briefly falling below on January 13. The catalyst for a break in one direction or the other could be the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on January 20.
Monitoring leverage is also a key element in determining market euphoria or greed. This can be observed through open interest (OI) futures contracts.
Open interest refers to the total number of Bitcoin futures contracts outstanding in the market. Data from Coinglass shows that OI is at its lowest level since early November, when Donald Trump won the US election.
As the chart shows, open interest fell to 621,000 BTC ($61.6 billion), from 700,000 BTC on December 19. This means that recent price action has been less focused on leverage and more on spot.
For a fair analysis, it is important to compare open positions denominated in bitcoin, as the unit remains the same, rather than using the face value, which fluctuates depending on the price of bitcoin.
