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Bitcoin (BTC) hovered around $23,000 on Feb. 1 after sealing its best January performance in 10 years.

End of Bitcoin bear market is “default view”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed a monthly close of around $23,100 for BTC/USD — its highest since July 2022.

The largest cryptocurrency finished the first month of the year up 39.6%, according to statistics from Coinglass.

The impressive performance emboldened bulls, many of whom had kept the faith despite mass misgivings from more conservative market participants.

“Bitcoin closes with a Monthly swing low,” trader, entrepreneur and investor Bob Loukas reacted.

Bitcoin (BTC) had a rough time all throughout 2022.

But fresh on-chain and futures market data show positive signs that the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization has started to recover.

After a bevy of short liquidations, the futures market is pointing toward renewed equilibrium. According to data from Glassnode, short position liquidations cleared out unhealthy market speculators, on-chain and exchange data now point to an improving spot market and exchange netflows.

A large group of investors that were previously at a loss is now back in the category that Glassnode analysts label as “unrealized profits.”

Massive short liquidations set the groundwork for new investors to thrive

Futures data typically hold an equilibrium between longs and shorts. As the market moves, investors tend to update their futures to avoid liquidation. Conversely, in mid-January, investors were caught off guard which resulted in an all-time high of 85% short liquidations.

There are rumors that Dogecoin could switch from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake (PoS). 

Do I know if Dogecoin is switching to PoS?

No.

Do I think it’s going to PoS? Probably not.

But I love the “what if” game.

The rally in cryptocurrency markets started in early January with a spike in heavily-shorted altcoins and Ethereum (ETH) liquid staking derivative (LSD) tokens due to the upcoming network upgrade in March. Soon gains started to show across the board as buyers started to play catch up. 

The improving macroeconomic conditions, such as reduced inflation and a stable job sector in the United States, provided additional tailwinds for the positive rally. Bitcoin (BTC) is en route to its most impressive closing for January since 2013. Its price has gained 40% year-to-date from the opening value of $16,530.

Another important catalyst for January’s rally was a short squeeze across the crypto market. After the FTX debacle and the lack of bullish narratives for the niche space, most investors expected growth to slow down in 2023.

There are unresolved issues such as potential Digital Currency Group fallout, geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine and recession risks due to the Fed’s aggressive quantitative tightening policies. Thus, most traders didn’t expect strong price rallies so early inthe year.

As it turns out, negative sentiment and crowded positions in the futures market continued to fuel more upside. There’s a strong chance of a pullback soon after steep gains. It remains to be seen if the pullback levels are attractive enough for buyers to turn it into a medium-to-long-term bullish trend. Let’s take a look at the top performing cryptocurrencies for January.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $23,000 into the Jan. 31 Wall Street open as markets braced for a fresh macroeconomic reckoning.

Trader: $25,000 “best case” for BTC/USD

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD gaining around 1% in a single hourly candle before the start of trading, overcoming resistance in place overnight.

With hours to go until the monthly close, the pair remained around $800 short of its weekend highs, which, at $23,950, marked Bitcoin’s strongest performance since mid-2022.

Inspecting the status quo, however, traders were unconvinced that the largest cryptocurrency would produce further gains in February.

January had produced upside of over 40%, making it Bitcoin’s best first month of the year since 2013.

Bitcoin (BTC) is rapidly regaining its lost dominance in the crypto market so far into 2023.

On Jan. 30, Bitcoin accounted for 44.82% of the total crypto market capitalization, the highest since June 2022. In September 2022, Bitcoin's dominance index was as low as 38.84%.

The index typically rises when most crypto investors reduce their exposure to smaller tokens and seek safety in Bitcoin. The reasons include Bitcoin's better liquidity and lower volatility than alternative cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, primarily in a bear market.

Bitcoin's market dominance to grow further?

As of Jan. 31, Bitcoin is up 38% year-to-date (YTD) at around $23,000. In comparison, the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH), gained 30% in the same period, showing most investors remain gravitated toward Bitcoin so far in 2023.

From a technical perspective, the Bitcoin dominance index may rise further in the coming weeks as it reclaims its 50-week exponential moving average (the red wave in the chart below) as support.