Bitcoin Price Prediction: Galaxy Analyst Flags Bear Market Bottom Ahead of Key Fed Official Speech

Bitcoin (BTC) price has reached a nine-month high of $83,000. The gain comes as the head of research at Galaxy Digital, Alex Thorn, opines that BTC may have hit a bear market bottom.

Bitcoin price is up by 4.39% today, September 21, to trade at $83,767 at the time of writing.

Bitcoin Crosses 50W MA as Galaxy Analyst Flags Bottom Signal

In an X post, Thorn noted that Bitcoin price has closed above the 50-week MA of $78,786. He notes that it is the first time that BTC has closed above this MA since November 2025,

Thorn notes that past data suggests that a move above the 50-day MA has always marked bear market lows.

Analyst Joe on X also supports Thorn’s bullish future Bitcoin outlook. He notes that the move above the 50-week MA has had a 75% chance of marking the bear market low.

The analyst adds that the only time Bitcoin price failed to surge after moving above the 50-week MA was during COVID.

Data from CryptoQuant also shows that the Bitcoin Bull-Bear cycle indicator remains above 0, suggesting that Bitcoin price is in a bullish cycle.

Bitcoin Bull-Bear Cycle Indicator (Source: CryptoQuant)

CryptoQuant analyst Gemini notes that the indicator’s reading above 0 suggests that BTC price could continue with the uptrend.

Fed’s Thomas Barkin Set to Speak This Week as Fed Rate Hike Bets Surge

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Thomas Barkin, will be speaking at two occasions on September 22 and September 24.

The Richmond Fed President will become the first official from the Federal Reserve to speak publicly since the Fed hiked rates on September 16.

Barkin’s appearance at the two occasions also comes as traders anticipate more rate hikes at the October and December FOMC meetings. Data from CoinGape prediction markets already shows that 54% of investors are betting on another rate hike.

Source: CoinGape Prediction Markets

A recent report by CoinGape also noted that Goldman Sachs expects the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates again by 25 basis points in October.

Bitcoin Price Tests Key Resistance as Bullish Momentum Strengthens

Bitcoin price has moved above the resistance at $82,200. This price also coincides with the resistance of a double-bottom pattern that suggests that the trend is changing from a bearish one to a bullish one.

If Bitcoin price moves to the upper Bollinger band at $85,650 and closes above it, bulls might push the price to the psychological resistance of $90,000.

The RSI reading of 59 supports this bullish thesis of a move to $90,000. The RSI line that is also creating higher highs suggests that the uptrend is strong.

BTC/USDT: 1D Chart (Source: TradingView)

Still, if Bitcoin fails to move above $85,200, it could drop to the psychological support of $80,000.

Coinbase Premium Suggests Demand Remains Weak Despite ETF Inflows

Data from CryptoQuant shows that the Coinbase Premium has turned from positive to negative, suggesting that there is weak demand from US-based traders.

Coinbase Premium Index (Source: CryptoQuant)

Still, SoSoValue shows that there were $433 million inflows to BTC ETFs on September 18. This was the biggest single-day inflow seen by the ETFs since September 3.

Bitcoin ETFs also posted in inflows of $6.21 million in the week between September 14 and September 18. This was higher than the $140 million in outflows seen with Ethereum ETFs during the same period.

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Author

  • Crystal Kim is a New York-based markets and investing reporter with more than 10 years of experience. Prior to joining Investopedia in July 2025, she covered crypto for Axios.

Crystal Kim

Crystal Kim is a New York-based markets and investing reporter with more than 10 years of experience. Prior to joining Investopedia in July 2025, she covered crypto for Axios.