Bitcoin ended its four-week price decline, recording its first weekly gain since August. The largest crypto asset by market value has increased about 2.5% since last Saturday to about $26,458.

The digital asset was trading at $26,468, at the time of writing while market bulls are eyeing the $27,000 mark.

The surge takes Bitcoin to its highest level this month, easing concerns about a potential September downturn that could impact its impressive year-to-date performance. 

On the other hand, formidable resistance is emerging for Bitcoin. The Binance order book shows a strong sell wall indicating this resistance level.

Resistance and Resilience

However, strong buying is evident at $26,000. Notably, Bitcoin remained resilient in the face of higher-than-expected US inflation data released this week. 

Risk sentiments rebounded as US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data showed a 0.6% increase in August, mainly due to rising gasoline prices, which accounted for more than half of the increase.

Inflation and Federal Reserve Expectations

Despite this uptick in inflation data, the bulls anticipate that the Federal Reserve’s hawkish narrative will water down, as the agency is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting next week. 

Data from CoinGecko puts Bitcoin’s current market capitalization at over $516 billion with a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $11.3 billion, highlighting an uptick in liquidity. 

Recall that the crypto market started the past week with significant losses, falling below $25,000 for the first time since mid-June on fears that bankrupt crypto exchange FTX will soon begin unloading all assets digital assets, including more than $500 million worth of bitcoin. 

Price actions validated such macros as Bitcoin broke the $25,500 resistance level coinciding with the market becoming aware of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF filing in June. 

BTC is currently converting the $26,000 level from resistance to support. Until the end of the week, every attempt to break this level resulted in strong sales.

If Bitcoin stays above $26,000 over the weekend it could be a positive sign, at least in the short term. 

Altcoin Market and Catalysts

Consequently, the altcoin market, which includes BNB, Solana, Tezos, and GMX, has also seen decent gains across the market spectrum.

The altcoin’s rally comes days after traders sold off the tokens, raising the possibility that defunct exchange FTX will receive bankruptcy court approval to sell assets from its crypto holdings that are worth billions of dollars.

The rally puts altcoin bears, who have placed leveraged bearish bets on SOL and other tokens fearing a potential sell-off from FTX creditors, at risk of liquidation.

Exchanges liquidate their positions when the market goes against the trader’s bet, resulting in a lack of margin and the trader not providing additional margin. 

Forced liquidation of sell orders also added upward pressure on the SOL price, leading to a short-term price increase, as it broke the $19 resistance level. 

Positive news this week about asset management giant Franklin Templeton joining the race to list a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) and global lending bank Deutsche Bank’s plans to delve deeper into digital asset custody and tokenization gave the bulls more ammunition, causing prices to rise.