Bitcoin price ‘carnage’ comes as gold hits new all-time high

Bitcoin (BTC) disappointed traders after the Feb. 19 Wall Street open as sellers quickly quashed early gains.

BTC price action teases “early-stage bullish divergence”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD rejecting from daily highs of $96,677 on Bitstamp.

Unable to shake its low-timeframe range, Bitcoin maintained what had become a repetitive series of stable trading during Europe and Asia hours flipping to downside for the US session.

“$BTC US Market Open sell offs are pretty rough recently,” popular trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote in part of an X post on the day, highlighting the Wall Street selling.

Fellow trader Roman described the trading range as “absolute carnage.”

“Constant fakeouts on both sides, low volume, & hard to determine momentum,” he summarized.

Seeking cause for optimism, Cold Blooded Shiller noted weakening momentum on each sell-off, seeing the potential for a push to $101,000 should a major short squeeze event take place.

As Cointelegraph reported, the area immediately above the $100,000 mark is already on the radar as an upside target.

Popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital meanwhile eyed what could become a bullish divergence on the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI).

“Subtle Lower Lows on the price action and Higher Lows on the RSI Potential early-stage Bullish Divergence developing on the Daily timeframe,” he told X followers.

Another post contextualized daily price action, with $97,700 a key level to reclaim as support for bulls.

Bitcoin gives way to booming gold

Continuing, trading firm QCP Capital described current sideways markets across risk assets as the “pain trade.”

Related: Bitcoin bull market can survive $77K BTC price dip in 2025 — Analyst

Geopolitical tensions and US trade tariffs remained a headache, it acknowledged, while crypto, and in particular altcoins, faced internal tailwinds.

“Despite these headwinds, Bitcoin remains resilient around the $95k level after dipping towards $93k, but struggling to break higher amid a lack of catalysts in the short term,” it concluded in its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers.

Gold once again formed a macro outlier, hitting yet another all-time high on the day and closing in on the $3,000 threshold.

“Gold prices have recorded 5 consecutive weekly gains, the longest streak since 2020. Over this time, gold prices have risen +11%,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter responded in part of its latest analysis. 

“This comes after a +27% gain seen in 2024, the third-best year since 1980.”

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.