Bitcoin rebound hits $45.5K, as focus shifts to future support retests

Bitcoin prices have been "up only" over the past few days, but if there is a retracement, then hopes are high for a $40,000 holding.

Bitcoin (BTC), which hit new multiweek highs of $45,000 on February 8, was the largest cryptocurrency to make a comeback.

Popular retest target: $40,000

Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView data showed that BTC/USD reached $45,500 on Bitstamp during Bitstamp's latest surge, before consolidating.

Volatility was again evident as the pair fluctuated by $1,000 during intra-hour timeframes. The total value of the transaction was $44,800 at the time.

However, fears of a major correction were not confirmed despite speculations that $40,000 might see a retest next.

Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin's recent moves are a break of a downtrend that has been in place since November's all time highs.

BTC price action has been sparked by a similar exit to its relative strength index, (RSI), and is closing in on its annual opening price of just over $46,000.

Material Indicators, an on-chain analytics resource, found that large volume traders were building up, while whales who bought in at $38,000 were now neutral.

Orders of $10k-$100k (green) were the driver of the rally and accounted for almost all of the CVD. They also TWAP'ed since the bottom fell in. It summarized that whales were either flattened or sold into the rips.

Separately, Monday's news broke that the United States regulators had approved a new type of exchange-traded funds that focuses on Bitcoin mining.

"Just like the move down did not give any dead cat bounces or clean tests, the up move so far had given shallow dips but no clean retests. This has left sidelined capital sweating, potentially having to chase," William Clemente said about the price performance.

XRP is the top altcoin gainer of all time

Altcoins were, however, slightly slower than Bitcoin's rally.

Related: Bitcoin price drops to $43K -- 5 Things to Watch in Bitcoin This Week

The largest altcoin, Ether (ETH), was up 2.8% in 24 hour compared to Bitcoin’s 5%. Only Cardano (ADA), and XRP outperformed the majority.

These gains were more than 16% per day, a clear turnaround that paved the way for a $1 attack.

The ADA/USD rose 6.3% to $1.23, the highest level since Jan. 20,