Bitcoin Price News: BTC Could Rise to $160K After Bull Flag Breakout

Bitcoin (BTC) has gone up by 8.3% in the past 7 days and has made a new all-time high at $118,856 according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Net inflows to BTC-linked exchange-traded funds (ETFs) came close to their record level upon hitting $1.18 billion on Thursday while ETH spot ETFs brought in $383.1 million as well.

Bitcoin ETF Net Inflows – Source: Farside Investors

Both tokens have hit key price milestones as ETH rose above $3,000 for the first time since January this year. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has broken its ceiling for a third time this year as institutional adoption and retail interest above $100,000 seems to be accelerating.

More and more company treasuries are embracing crypto assets – primarily Bitcoin and Ethereum – to diversify their reserves.

Moreover, a pro-crypto administration that includes a Trump-appointed new head at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) supports a bullish outlook for the entire industry and could help accelerate adoption over the next few years.

Short Liquidations Hit $1.1 Billion

Surprisingly, trading volumes in the past 24 hours for Bitcoin have jumped by 112%. This is a remarkable increase for a $2 trillion asset.

Crypto Liquidations (All Exchanges) – Source: CoinGlass

The strength of the rally is emphasized by liquidation data. More than $1.1 billion worth of short positions have been wiped out of the crypto market in the past 24 hours alone. BTC accounts for more than 60% of that total as the price ripped through the $111,000 barrier and came close to $120,000.

Data from CoinGlass indicates that on July 9, short liquidations hit a 6-month high at $936 million.

Meanwhile, open interest in BTC futures (expressed in BTC) is getting close to its all-time high once again as FOMO has taken over the market.

Bull Flag Breakout Confirms Push to $163,000

Looking at the daily chart, an encouraging pattern has emerged that promises significant upside potential ahead for Bitcoin.

BTC/USD Daily Chart (Bitstmap) – Source: TradingView

A bull flag pattern has been confirmed following this strong breakout to a new all-time high. In our latest Bitcoin price prediction, we emphasized that the $110,500 level was a key threshold for market participants.

The price retreated briefly upon hitting that resistance and then broke through to make a new ATH as significant buy-side liquidity lied at those levels. With liquidations rising to a 6-month record, it is evident that the market has pulled off a historical short-squeeze.

Now, bulls have a clear runway to keep pushing the price higher. The most encouraging aspect of this breakout is that bull flags are continuation patterns. This means that this could be a resumption of the significant upward movement we saw from April to May this year that resulted in a 50.5% gain.

If we use the flag’s pole size to estimate how high BTC can go after this breakout, we could set a mid-term target of $163,000 for the top crypto.

A retest of the $110,500 level would be expected shortly to give late buyers a chance to enter the rally and prepare for a much more pronounced next leg up.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has hit overbought levels in this daily time frame, which favors a bullish outlook in the long term as it indicates that the uptrend has gained significant strength.

A pullback to $110,000 would provide a decent entry with the expectation that BTC will hit much higher levels during what remains of the year.