Bitcoin (BTC) is well-nigh unrecognizable as it starts the first working week of 2021, retaining the $thirty,000 support and hitting astronomical new highs.

Hard to believe for hodlers, toll activity continues to wow as Monday gets underway, and attention is turning to what might be next.

Cointelegraph takes a await at five factors that investors might wish to monitor in the coming days in what is ane of the most volatile Bitcoin trading markets in history.

Stocks hitting highs every bit Bitcoin "flips" the Dow

Information technology'south some other curious week for stocks equally concluding week'due south all-time highs on several indexes expect set to go along.

As the beginning few days of the new twelvemonth drew to a close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the South&P 500 hit tape highs — this despite the encroaching coronavirus sparking e'er tighter lockdowns beyond the earth.

For Bitcoiners, the Dow took on a unlike type of significance last week, with BTC/USD "flipping" its xxx,600 points for the first time as it connected on to $34,000 and higher.

This week, analysts predict stocks to get higher nevertheless, part of a long-anticipated rebound which, much like terminal year, appears at odds with the situation on the ground.

"A stiff vaccine-led recovery in global growth will provide a large boost to cyclical assets, including bolt, cyclical equity sectors and emerging markets," Goldman Sachs told Bloomberg as part of its 2021 outlook survey.

"However, the path may be tricky as the market balances spot growth weakness with a forrad outlook that is more supportive."

Not everyone was and then bullish. Fidelity, the asset manager well known for its pioneering pro-Bitcoin opinion, countered:

"2021 is probable to be about capturing relative opportunities as investors price in economic and virus-related developments."
Bitcoin vs. stocks correlation chart. Source: Digital Avails Data

Futures gaps may stay forever unfilled

After clinching $34,800 over the weekend, Bitcoin is looking incomparably in need of a consolidatory catamenia as the week gets underway.

The highs, which still seem unreal to many investors, have plenty of hurdles to overcome in club to defend themselves and non allow Bitcoin to cave to the bears.

One of the most pressing problems for traders is the Bitcoin futures "gap" produced past the weekend's volatility. Lying between $29,695 and $32,400, the gap joins the one left concluding week as one of the largest always seen on the Bitcoin futures chart.

Bitcoin futures 1-mean solar day candle chart (CME) with gaps visible. Source: TradingView

As Cointelegraph has previously explained, "gaps" in futures are the differences in cost between the end of futures trading on a Fri and the kickoff on the following Monday. When heavy volatility hits in between, the resulting void often forms a brusk-term cost target.

In this case, Bitcoin thus has an impetus to retest levels at only below $30,000. Should it wish to fill lower gaps that remain untested, the market may dip further still. The pit of last weekend's gap lies at $23,800.

While previous months saw many a gap get filled, nevertheless, the idea of a $24,000 Bitcoin is now a remote possibility, co-ordinate to popular statistician Willy Woo.

"We'll never run across $20k BTC once again," he forecast on Sun.

"$24k support would need a blackness swan event to breakup. Floor price supported past long term buyers is rising very fast."

$20,000 itself forms a zone of interest for those studying gaps, with 2 large vacuums in futures markets notwithstanding open up beneath that significant level.

Difficulty, hash rate on track for fresh records

Information technology'due south all change for the improve amongst Bitcoin's cadre fundamentals, meanwhile. After a month of small decreases, network difficulty is again fix to push upwardly to hit new record highs.

At the next automatic readjustment later this calendar week, difficulty is currently expected to increment by but over 5%.

The past two readjustments saw drops of 2.five% and 0.4%, respectively, an interesting dissimilarity to the rapid increases in spot price seen at the same time.

Difficulty is arguably Bitcoin's almost of import technical attribute when information technology comes to its status every bit "hard" money, allowing the network substantially to govern itself and stay secure regardless of miner participation or price activity.

In tandem with difficulty, hash rate is too challenging all-time highs. As of Mon, 7-day average values for the metric stand at 145 exahashes per second (EH/s), but i EH/s off record highs seen Oct 2020.

Hash rate refers to the computing power dedicated to participating in the Bitcoin network, and electric current data suggests that participation and desire to keep the network secure is stronger than ever.

Bitcoin 7-twenty-four hour period average hash rate half-dozen-month chart. Source: Blockchain

Ether returns to $ane,000 after three years

Perhaps the most telling sign when it comes to cost trajectory is coming from within cryptocurrency itself.

While Bitcoin lone is impressive, this weekend concluded with an fifty-fifty more than conspicuous surge in altcoins, specifically Ether (ETH). The largest altcoin is up over 30% in the by 24 hours alone, bringing its weekly gains above l%.

As Cointelegraph reported, Sunday saw it clinch a key level against BTC, and in dollar terms, the largest altcoin is back in four figures for the commencement fourth dimension in three years.

Bitcoin vs. Ether year-to-date functioning 2021. Source: Digital Avails Data

In the words of Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe, such a move suggests that a return of "alt flavour" — a period of rapid rises across altcoin markets while Bitcoin consolidates — has de facto arrived.

"Some other week that Ethereum will shut above the crucial threshold on the BTC pair," he commented late Lord's day.

"Most likely some sideways continuation before upwardly continuation towards a new higher high. 2021 is looking bright for Ethereum."

The token'south success was long in forming. Ether spent much of 2020 as the barrel of jokes among Bitcoiners, equally even the release of its long-awaited Ethereum 2.0 protocol transformation failed to have a noticeable impact on price.

Yet, the altcoin was in fact the all-time investment of the year, outperforming Bitcoin versus its March lows when it traded at just $113 — one-tenth of current levels.

ETH/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Here comes altseason!

If Ether is dictating the reemergence of altcoins, such equally THETA, for instance, it is already evident if i examines the state of Bitcoin's market dominance.

As ETH/USD surged overnight on Dominicus, the share of the full cryptocurrency market capitalization endemic by Bitcoin began to autumn dramatically. Against 73.5% earlier on Sunday, press-fourth dimension levels are more like 68.3%, data shows.

Bitcoin market cap say-so 1-day candle chart. Source: TradingView

That kind of behavior is a classic indicator of alt season and will remind longtime hodlers of the events of January 2018. At the time, Bitcoin was coming down from highs of near $20,000, but altcoins exploded, with ETH/USD striking current all-time highs of $i,500.

Given that Bitcoin has managed to vanquish its own tape from 2017, it is that pattern of behavior that is fuelling speculation that Ether and other altcoins volition go much college in the brusk term.

"Bitcoin and ether ETH are already the biggest hits of 2021," Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of exchange Gemini, summarized to Twitter followers.

Information technology's not merely Ether. Litecoin (LTC), the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has added 15% since Sunday, again coming within a hair of flipping XRP to take the number three spot.

XRP, beset by problems thanks to legal activity against Ripple, has yet managed to put in some form of progress, ascension by most 10% overnight to reclaim $0.24.