Bitcoin priice is booming again. BTC has pumped nearly 6% today, pushing toward $85,000 and extending a recovery that has brought buyers back into the cryptocurrency market.
The broader reasons behind the market rebound have already been covered in our previous piece. This time, the focus is on Bitcoin itself and a technical development that bulls have been waiting months to see.
For the first time since November 2025, Bitcoin has recorded a weekly close above its 50-week moving average, according to Santiment. Crypto analyst Doctor Profit believes the pump marks the beginning of a new bull market and has reiterated his $88,000 price target.
However, Santiment’s on-chain data reveals an important complication: Bitcoin’s price has risen considerably faster than its network activity.
What you'll learn 👉
Bitcoin Breaks Above Its 50-Week Moving Average, but Santiment Spots a Catch
Santiment examined the September 18 breakout to determine whether the rally was accompanied by a meaningful increase in Bitcoin network activity.
BTC gained close to 6% that day, but new Bitcoin addresses came in at just 1.00 times the median Friday reading for the July 24–September 20 period. Active addresses were also at 1.00 times their baseline.
In other words, the pump did not bring an unusual increase in either metric.
The accompanying chart makes this particularly clear. Bitcoin’s price, represented by the green line, jumped toward $81,000, while the bar representing new addresses remained almost exactly in line with the Friday median of roughly 310,000 addresses.
Source: Santiment chart shared in the supplied post.
The comparison with August 21 is particularly interesting. Bitcoin gained nearly 7% that Friday, while new addresses reached 1.07 times their baseline and active addresses climbed to 1.14 times their usual level.
Santiment also found that ten weekdays over the preceding two months recorded more new addresses than the September 18 breakout.
Last week, for the first time since Nov 2025, $BTC closed above its 50-week moving average. The read going around is that this confirms the bottom.
— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) September 21, 2026
We checked what the breakout actually brought with it. Baseline for every multiple below: the Friday median, Jul 24 to Sep 20.
🆕… pic.twitter.com/wOGvXdZBfA
Other indicators were somewhat more encouraging. Social volume reached 1.23 times its baseline, transactions exceeding $100,000 rose to 1.18 times their baseline, and open interest increased by 9%.
Still, the social and large-transaction readings did not reach their highest levels for the observation period.
The conclusion is not necessarily bearish. Bitcoin can rally without an immediate increase in new addresses, particularly when existing holders or institutional investors drive demand.
Nevertheless, the data does not establish that a broad wave of new network participation is supporting the breakout. Rising open interest also indicates more derivatives exposure, not necessarily more bullish positions.
Bitcoin has delivered the price pump. But, will the underlying demand expand enough to sustain it? This remains an open question.
Doctor Profit Says the Bitcoin Bull Market Has Started
Crypto analyst Doctor Profit has been arguing for weeks that Bitcoin’s 50-week moving average should not be treated as an insurmountable resistance level.
He previously compared the current market structure with the 2022–2023 recovery, when Bitcoin encountered repeated resistance around the same indicator before eventually breaking higher.
Following the latest move, he reiterated his position:
“A confirmed breakout will mark the start of the bull market with first target of 88k.”
His updated weekly chart shows Bitcoin trading near $84,631, above both the descending 50-week moving average and a horizontal resistance level around $78,700–$79,000.
The most recent weekly candle has also moved above the analyst’s upper confirmation line near $82,000–$83,000.
This is an important distinction from his earlier analysis. Bitcoin has now moved beyond the resistance region that Doctor Profit previously identified as the next major test.
His chart identifies several levels:
| Bitcoin price level | Technical significance |
|---|---|
| $88,000 | Doctor Profit’s first bullish target |
| $82,000–$83,000 | Breakout confirmation area; potential support on a retest |
| $78,700–$79,000 | Previous resistance and approximate 50-week moving-average region |
| $71,000 | Larger support area |
| $69,000 | Historical support reference |
| $65,000 | Approximate 200-week moving-average region shown on the chart |
The chart also shows how Bitcoin spent much of the summer consolidating between approximately $59,000 and $65,000 before recovering in August.
That extended base was followed by a move toward $80,000, a brief pullback and the latest pump above $83,000.
From a technical perspective, the sequence provides a basis for Doctor Profit’s bullish interpretation: Bitcoin has reclaimed its long-term moving average and broken through a resistance level that previously limited its recovery.
However, the analyst’s declaration that a new bull market has begun remains his interpretation of the chart. A moving-average breakout alone cannot establish that the market has reached a permanent bottom.
Read also: Here’s Where Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Might be Headed This Week
Bitcoin Price Prediction: Is $88,000 Next?
With Bitcoin trading around $85,000, Doctor Profit’s $88,000 target is now approximately 3.5% away.
The immediate question is whether BTC can maintain its position above the $82,000–$83,000 breakout area.
If buyers defend that region during a pullback, it could strengthen the case for a continuation toward $88,000. A successful move above that target would put the psychological $90,000 level into focus.
However, a decline back below $82,000 would raise questions about the breakout’s durability. The next important area would be approximately $78,700–$79,000, where the 50-week moving average and previous resistance converge on Doctor Profit’s chart.
A sustained loss of that region would weaken the bullish interpretation considerably.
For now, the technical picture has improved, and Bitcoin has cleared the levels bulls were watching. But Santiment’s findings provide a useful counterpoint: the September 18 rally did not coincide with an exceptional increase in new or active addresses.
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