Bitcoin (BTC) spiked higher at the July 19 Wall Street open as confusion reigned over whether United States President Joe Biden would abandon his reelection campaign.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

BTC price throws off consolidation

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a resurgent BTC price action as BTC/USD challenged one-month highs.

Up by more than 2.5% on the day, Bitcoin surprised market participants after previously showing lackluster consolidatory behavior.

“The market hours for IBIT open at 9.30am ET. Within minutes, Bitcoin shot up from $64K, now above $65K,” Charles Edwards, founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund Capriole Investments, responded on X.

“Did some institution just wake up and decide Bitcoin is a safe haven decentralized store of value as global tech and banking systems fail from Microsoft's blue screen of death?”

Edwards referred to the ongoing fallout from an IT collapse involving Microsoft Crowdstrike software, which has impacted transport, banks and other businesses worldwide.

At the same time, confusion swirled over the fate of US President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, with conflicting reports over whether he would continue. His opponent, Donald Trump, sparked a crypto market rally last week after surviving an unsuccessful assassination attempt.

BTC liquidation heatmap (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

Live data from monitoring resource CoinGlass showed BTC/USD eating through overhead ask liquidity at the time of writing.

Shorts were beginning to feel the heat, with 24-hour cross-crypto short liquidations nearing $170 million.

“$BTC 4H trying again after some consolidation,” popular trader Cheds summarized about the current short-timeframe move.

BTC/USD chart. Source: Cheds/X

Trader, analyst and podcast host Scott Melker, known as the “Wolf Of All Streets,” meanwhile updated his coverage of Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI), continuing the bullish mood.

Source: Scott Melker

Conditions continue to favor Bitcoin upside

Optimism also flowed over into other circles, including to trading firm QCP Capital, which began to entertain the idea that Bitcoin had completed its post-all-time-high drawdown.

“Price action this week has been rather resilient especially against the backdrop of continued Mt. Gox supply and tanking equities,” it wrote in its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers on the day.

“Could this be a sign that the market has shaken off most of its worries?”

QCP added that perpetual futures funding rates were now “back to flat,” while volume was “drifting lower and BTC is back in the familiar range of 61k to 71k where it traded within for the entire of Q2 this year.”