Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) starts a new week and a new quarter as if it were starting the new year \u2014 at just over $46,000.<\/p>\n In what will seem like some serious deja-vu for hodlers, BTC\/USD is at practically the same level<\/a> it was on January 1, 2022.<\/p>\n Price action has been quiet \u2014 too quiet, perhaps \u2014 in recent days, but behind the declining volatility, there are signs that the market is busy deciding its future direction.<\/p>\n From macro to on-chain, there are in fact plenty of cues to keep an eye on in April amid a backdrop of Bitcoin \u2014 at least so far \u2014 retaining its yearly open price as support.<\/p>\n Cointelegraph takes a look at five of these factors as they pertain to BTC price performance over the coming week.<\/p>\n There has been much talk of the end of the post-COVID \u201ceasy money\u201d period and the impact it\u2019ll have on risk assets such as Bitcoin.<\/p>\n As the United States Federal Reserve pledges to reduce its record-high balance sheet and keep raising key rates, commentators have sounded the alarm over what could be a shockwave hitting investment into crypto.<\/p>\n So far, however, there is little sign that a fundamental shift is underway<\/a>, while in Asia this week, it seems like the opposite is true.<\/p>\n As highlighted<\/a> by markets commentator Holger Zschaepitz, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has added to its balance sheet, printing even more liquidity.<\/p>\n The BoJ already had the largest balance sheet relative to GDP and that trend is only increasing, now at 136% of GDP.<\/p>\n For Zschaepitz, this is not only a surprise, but could be \u201cthe biggest monetary experiment in history.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn comparison, the ECB and the Fed look like amateurs,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n If more printing means more good times for risk assets, not everyone is even convinced that the long-vaunted balance sheet reductions will last. Central banks, they claim, will soon have no choice but to restart liquidity injections.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no government, ever, that resisted the temptation to print money in order to pay its bills and placate its citizens. The government will never voluntarily go bankrupt. This is axiomatic. I challenge you to contradict me with evidence,\u201d Arthur Hayes, ex-CEO of derivatives giant BitMEX, wrote<\/a> in a blog post in March. <\/p>\n \u201cTherefore, if your time horizon is in the years, it\u2019s time. If you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Remember: it\u2019s not gold or Bitcoin that is increasing in price, it\u2019s a decrease in value of the fiat currency in which they are priced.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The contrasting view, as signaled<\/a> by last week\u2019s yield curve inversion, pits rate hikes against the now high risk of a recession in the U.S. \u2014 a combination that should pressure Bitcoin and stocks alike.<\/p>\n The lack of volatility is the main talking point among Bitcoin traders and analysts as April 4 gets underway.<\/p>\n Some classic but brief excitement around the weekly close faded within hours, with bears still failing to take the yearly open away as support, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro<\/a> and TradingView<\/a>\u00a0shows.<\/p>\n With that, BTC\/USD is in exactly the same place as it was three months ago, but short-term price signals are already seeing some calling for continuation higher.<\/p>\n Among them is popular analyst TechDev, who highlighted Bitcoin\u2019s first \u201cvolatility squeeze\u201d since January playing out on the 12-hour chart.<\/p>\n 12H $BTC<\/a> volatility squeeze forming.<\/p>\n First since January. This one is during green trend bars.<\/p>\n Breakout arrow will indicate direction when it occurs. pic.twitter.com\/5QZDl92p7f<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 TechDev (@TechDev_52) April 4, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n TechDev used indicators including the Bollinger Bands volatility measure, which is now seeing BTC\/USD surfing the middle of the channel with a skew to the upside.<\/p>\n As Cointelegraph recently\u00a0reported, the odds are already on for an attack<\/a> on the $50,000 mark, which will be Bitcoin\u2019s first this year.<\/p>\n April itself, meanwhile, has much to live up to<\/a> \u2014 in and of itself, this month has historically been \u201cgood\u201d for Bitcoin.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no secret that a lot of Bitcoin has been leaving exchanges this year<\/a>, but the latest data shows just how the supply squeeze is playing out.<\/p>\n According to on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, last month saw exchange outflows unlike many others \u2014 exchanges are down by the equivalent of almost 100,000 BTC.<\/p>\n Historically, there have only been two occasions in Bitcoin\u2019s lifespan when outflows surpass the 100,000 BTC mark, making March\u2019s among the highest.<\/p>\n \u201cAggregate exchange outflows of this magnitude have only been seen on a handful of occasions throughout history, with most being after the March 2020 liquidity crisis,\u201d Glassnode added<\/a> in Twitter comments alongside an annotated chart. <\/p>\n Should investors be recreating the bottom-buying behavior after the COVID-19 crash, the implications should be clear but may take a while to play out. In 2020, while BTC\/USD rebounded after dropping 60% in days, it wasn\u2019t until Q4 that price performance really began to change.<\/p>\n Fellow analytics platform CryptoQuant, which tracks<\/a> the balances of 21 major exchanges, meanwhile shows that overall BTC stocks are now at their lowest since August 1, 2018, at 2.303 million BTC.<\/p>\n A meandering downtrend in 2022 gathered pace in March, which saw a total of 77,000 BTC withdrawn to private wallets.<\/p>\n An unusual event has occurred when it comes to Bitcoin\u2019s relationship with altcoins. Combined open interest and volume on altcoin derivatives markets have surpassed that of Bitcoin for the first time in over a year.<\/p>\n The move was noticed by crypto analytics platform Coinalyze, which openly suggested that the much-fabled \u201caltseason\u201d may now be here.<\/p>\n #ALTSEASON<\/a> ? pic.twitter.com\/O0rv3ttwMl<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Coinalyze (@coinalyzetool) March 31, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cCould mean altseason, money flows into alts now,\u201d founder Gabriel Dodan told Cointelegraph in private comments. <\/p>\n Such a perspective chimes with data showing considerable inflows into altcoins last week<\/a>, which one commentator argued showed risk appetite among investors increasing.<\/p>\n Taking the limelight away from BTC may not be a dampener on performance per se, Dodan added, thanks to volatility similarly draining away.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the other hand that makes BTC pretty stable because it is not over leveraged; it’s a good floor for BTC,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Hot on the heels of record difficulty for the Bitcoin network, hash rate hit new all-time highs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related:\u00a0Top 5 cryptocurrencies to watch this week: BTC, VET, THETA, RUNE, AAVE<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In what shows miners\u2019 belief in the long-term profitability of participating in the network, the hash rate is now at 223 exahashes per second (EH\/s), according<\/a> to data resource MiningPoolStats.<\/p>\n While only an estimate of the processing power dedicated by miners, the hash rate has never been higher. According to proponents, will continue to grow regardless of external attempts to \u201creign in\u201d Bitcoin.<\/p>\n \u201cBitcoin mining is pretty much the most anti fragile system designed by man,\u201d Francis Pouliot, CEO of payment processor Bull Bitcoin, argued<\/a> in a well-known blog post about Bitcoin hash rate and energy consumption last year. <\/p>\n \u201cAny attack on Bitcoin is guaranteed to make Bitcoin stronger, which itself implies a higher price, a higher hashrate, and higher energy consumption.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The topic of Bitcoin versus energy remains highly controversial<\/a>, with multiple popular figures taking pains to explain<\/a> what they see as a logical fallacy \u2014 that Bitcoin uses \u201ctoo much.\u201d Bitcoin does not waste energy, they contend, but merely converts it into something more useful as the most sound money ever created.<\/p>\n The hash rate, regardless of the narrative, continues to grow, underscoring the basic bullish premise for investing in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\nInflation meets fresh money printing<\/h2>\n
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Spot bulls aim for $50,000<\/h2>\n
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Buyers usher coins out of exchanges in March<\/h2>\n
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Never mind the altseason<\/h2>\n
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Hash rate hits new all-time high<\/h2>\n
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