Bitcoin Price Due ‘New Upwards Leg’ Toward $80,000, Says Trader

Bitcoin (BTC) circled $71,000 at Thursday’s Wall Street open after US inflation data conformed to expectations.

Key points:

• Bitcoin waits for new catalysts as US PCE inflation data conforms to market expectations.

• Friday’s CPI release will be the first to show any impact of the US-Iran war.

• $80,000 remains in play as a BTC price target, a trader says.

PCE data avoids surprises for risk assets

Data from TradingView showed cooling BTC price volatility after local highs near $73,000 the day prior.

Relief over a US-Iran ceasefire combined with favorable readings from the Federal Reserve’s “preferred” inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index.

Core PCE year-on-year came in at 3% for February. On a monthly basis, core PCE was at 0.4%, per data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

Reacting, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter noted that the impact of the US-Iran war and oil-supply squeeze were not yet reflected in PCE.

“This marks the final pre-Iran War PCE inflation datapoint,” it wrote on X.

Markets remained cautious about future Fed policy, with data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool continuing to show no expectations of interest-rate cuts in 2026.

While Bitcoin offered no obvious reaction to the latest data, meanwhile, economist Mohamed El-Erian argued that Friday’s March Consumer Price Index (CPI) release was more important.

“While PCE inflation is widely regarded as the Fed’s favorite measure, the bigger inflation focus this week will be on tomorrow’s CPI data, as PCE covers February and not March,” he told X followers.

As Cointelegraph reported, CPI is particularly susceptible to fallout from oil-price swings.

Trader: $80,000 BTC price push “on the horizon”

BTC price action thus left traders guessing as to when and where the next move would be.

Related: Bitcoin RSI ‘nearly perfectly’ copying end of 2022 bear market: Analysis

In their latest market commentary, pseudonymous trader LP leveraged liquidation clusters to give potential targets.

“On the HTF, some upside low-leverage liquidation clusters have been cleared, but sizeable liquidity still remains around 73K and above the highs near 76K. Meanwhile, liquidity is starting to build on the downside, mainly around 69K and 64K,” an X post stated. 

“With price still range-bound, both sides remain in play. If the 69–68K level holds, price is likely to push higher and target the remaining upside liquidity around 73K.”

Crypto trader Michaël Van de Poppe was more optimistic, keeping the $80,000 mark in play.

“As long as Bitcoin continues to hold these ranges, there’s a strong new upwards leg on the horizon towards $80K,” he summarized on the day.