Bitcoin Traders Look Toward First Week of 2022 for Fresh Recovery

Bitcoin traders are now looking toward the first week of 2022 for a fresh recovery in the price as Bitcoin dips to fresh intraday lows of $46,643.

#Bitcoin slumps to below $48K ahead of $6B options expiry. A total of 129,800 option contracts worth more than $6 billion are set to expire on Friday. Recovery will take place after Friday as more down pressure expected on overall #crypto market. pic.twitter.com/WYcd69cRMT

— Alvin Foo (@alvinfoo) December 29, 2021

Bitcoin faced rejection after reaching highs of $52,100 on Dec. 27, shedding nearly 10% to lows of $46,643 on Dec. 29. At press time, Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $46,900, down 5% in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin is presently down 17.76% for December, with only two days left till the end of 2021. Bitcoin's chances of ending December on a positive note remain quite slim. Alex Kruger, a cryptoanalyst and economist, argues that all hope is not lost, based on historical data. He mentioned that Bitcoin has historically performed well in the first week of the year, referring to this as the "first week of the year effect."

First week of the year effect$BTC returns first week of:

2021 +36%
2020 +13%
2019 +7%
2018 +18%

Bears killed santa, but have you heard of the Wise Men?

— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) December 28, 2021

He stated what he expects in January: "Still expect a strong crypto up market in early Jan driven by fund inflows. Then risk-off ahead of the next FOMC (Jan/26) if the next inflation print comes in too hot (Jan/12)."

Bulls look toward 2022

Noelle Acheson, the head of market insights at Genesis Trading, told CNBC on Tuesday that she sees "strong signs" of institutional crypto investment growth accelerating in 2022.

She described the amount of institutional investment growth in the crypto market as "astonishing" over the last 12 months.

? #Bitcoin $BTC Percent Supply Last Active 1+ Years just reached a 10-month high of 56.862%

View metric:https://t.co/1j255TMTVz pic.twitter.com/WYum1k2TGX

— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) December 29, 2021

As indicated by on-chain analytics, Glassnode, Bitcoin medium-term holders continue to stay strong despite the recent dip. Some mid-term holders have not touched their Bitcoin in more than a year, with the supply reaching a 10-month high of 56.862%.