The week is drawing to a close with Bitcoin back above $7,000 which keeps it consolidating as the bulls and bears battle it out. Long term trend lines are holding as is strong support but those are not the only reasons why the next bull run could be imminent.Bitcoin Holds Major SupportSince its big mid-week pump, Bitcoin has held above $7,000 which has been crucial for the bigger picture. Over the past 24 hours BTC has found stable ground in the $7,150 area and has continued to consolidate there.The move has kept the asset within its range bound channel for the past four weeks or so. The key take however is the holding of major support in the mid-$6k zone.A short squeeze at the $6,500 prevented what would surely have been a huge dump down to $5k where the 200 week moving average and a number of Fib retracement levels lie.As reported by NewsBTC yesterday, the $6,500 region is a key long term support zone and was the most traded price for Bitcoin for 2018. Industry analysts such as Peter Brandt and Adamant Capital founding partner Tuur Demeester acknowledged this pivotal point.We’ve now twice tested the support level—what a thriller. pic.twitter.com/KJCerXNHaf— Tuur Demeester (@TuurDemeester) December 18, 2019Rise Institutional InterestFutures contracts have been trading at record highs which indicate a huge increase in institutional interest. Yesterday Bakkt hit a new record for physically delivered Bitcoin futures with over 6,200 contracts traded.Yesterday we set a new volume record:6,226 physically delivered Bakkt Bitcoin Futures contracts traded at ICE Futures U.S.— Bakkt (@Bakkt) December 19, 2019Grayscale has also seen a large increase in Bitcoin inflow which signals the same thing. BTC is now on the radar of the big players. Other institutional product providers such as Fidelity and TD Ameritrade are noting an uptick in interest as Bitcoin positions itself as a macro asset.Futures and options, especially cash settled ones, do not necessarily boost BTC prices but they do increase awareness of crypto assets to those with deep pockets.Halving FOMOThere is nothing like a good halving to send Bitcoin prices to the moon again. It has happened twice before and there is nothing indicating that history will not rhyme again.With just 146 days to go now the FOMO should start to build soon, more so as we enter 2020. As the block reward and inflation rate gets halved, the stock to flow doubles which is very important to investors in terms of relative scarcity and demand.There is no end of charts and predictions out there for BTC price next year and most signal a larger run after the halving.The new bull market could be around the corner, all Bitcoin has to do is stay above $6,500 for the rest of this year to confirm it.Image from ShutterstockThe post appeared first on NewsBTC
