Bitcoin’s price fell to around $92,000 on Friday afternoon, December 20, after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut triggered a keen sell-off in the cryptocurrency market. However, the main cryptocurrency appears to be recovering nicely, returning above the $97,000 level on the same day.

While investors were hoping that Bitcoin’s price would regain its current high of $108,135, a prominent cryptocurrency analyst presented a bold target to the market leader. Below is the rationale behind the fresh bullish target for Bitcoin price.

Can the Bitcoin price repeat this 86% augment?

In a fresh post on Platform X, NewsBTC head of research Tony “The Bull” Severino common captivating forecast for the price of Bitcoin. According to a CMT-certified cryptocurrency analyst, the flagship cryptocurrency looks poised to reach as high as $178,000.

This bullish projection is based on Bitcoin price movement relative to Bollinger Bands. Bollinger Bands is an indicator consisting of three lines; straightforward moving average (middle band) and upper and lower bands. This technical analysis tool helps you assess the volatility of financial markets.

According to Severino, the BTC price on the daily time frame again tested the monthly upper Bollinger band. Historically, this action has sparked significant price increases in the past.

More recently, a similar retest occurred in overdue January 2024, which resulted in an 86% price augment to the previous record high of $73,737. Severino noted that if history repeats itself, Bitcoin’s price could also see an identical 86% surge from its current price level to reach a fresh all-time high of $178,000.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at around $97,265, reflecting an augment of 0.8% in the last 24 hours. Nevertheless, the main cryptocurrency still sees a 4% decline on a weekly basis.

Here’s what needs to happen first

Indeed, the $178,000 target may not be that outrageous for Bitcoin’s price, especially considering its performance in recent months. However, the latest on-chain data shows that the market leader needs to overcome major resistance around $97,500 and $99,800.

According to a cryptocurrency expert Ali Martinez on Xover 924,000 addresses purchased over 1.19 million BTC in the above price range. This becomes a drag because buyers in this price range may want to sell their assets to break even after suffering a loss; this puts downward pressure on prices.

Martinez noted, however, that if BTC’s price manages to successfully break above this level, investors could see the leading cryptocurrency return to its all-time high and possibly forge a fresh one.

Featured image by DALL-E, chart from TradingView