Bitcoin prices have maintained their strength over the last 24 hours, retaining the vast majority of the gains that materialized during the cryptocurrency’s latest rally.

The world’s largest digital currency by total market capitalization was trading above $65,000 at the time of this writing, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The digital asset held that value after rallying more than 8% in under 24 hours, reaching its highest since approximately April 24 and then extending those gains, additional CoinMarketCap figures show.

Focusing in on bitcoin’s short-term outlook, several market observers highlighted key fundamental developments that could impact the digital asset’s price, in addition to singling out price levels that could provide key support or resistance.

Brett Sifling, an investment advisor for Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, offered some input on this situation.

“Bitcoin remains range bound since the end of February, as the halving event wasn’t enough to push it to new highs,” he stated via emailed comments.

“I don’t see any other major catalysts on the horizon, other than increased institutional adoption. There is also the potential for the Fed to lower rates later this year, which could bring increased optimism for risk-on assets like Bitcoin,” said Sifling, referring to the federal funds rate, which is controlled by Federal Reserve policymakers.

The decisions of the Federal Open Market Committee have generated quite a bit of visibility over the last few years, as these government officials pushed the fed funds rate, which has an impact on broader borrowing costs, to its highest level since 2008.

This, in turn, has provided a significant headwind for economic activity, but inflation data has remained stubbornly high at many points in spite of high borrowing costs.

Yesterday, headline inflation figures that fell short of economist estimates were cited as a catalyst that helped bitcoin prices rally. This development was credited with helping provide investors with greater hopes that the Fed will cut rates soon.

Technical Analysis

As for the key price levels that technical traders should monitor going forward, Sifling offered some guidance.

“The recent all-time highs in March of around ~$74,000 is a key level to watch, as well as the lows of this recent range at ~$56,500,” he stated.

Grant Tungate, head of business development for Blockforce Capital, also shed some light on this matter.

“I don’t want to make any predictions but I’ll provide some commentary on levels I believe are important,” he said via email.

“Key levels are the new 30d high ~$67.3k, then the all time high ~$74k. On the downside the 30d low ~$57k is an important zone,” Tungate added, pinpointing figures similar to those identified by Sifling.

Armando Aguilar, an independent cryptocurrency analyst, also offered some input on this subject.

“The next critical support level for BTC holds in the high $62k range, if BTC struggles to maintain these levels it could retest low $61k range,” he stated.

“The resistance levels for BTC are in the mid $66k which if breached, we could see the blue chip cryptocurrency cruise to mid/high $68k,” Aguilar added.

“The ATH does provide a key resistance level which would require BTC inflows to pick up as it was the case for the first 2 months since launch. Don’t immediately see levels passing ATH as most custodians have reached maximum distribution capacity thus seeing low inflows into BTC,” he concluded.

Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether, EOS and sol.

PORTLAND — The Portland Police Department is warning residents about a scam where callers, posing as officials from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, claim that the victims are in contempt of court for failing to appear as witnesses in a trial.

The scammers then demand payment of a substantial fine to avoid further charges, including arrest.

Victims are being instructed to make payments through Coinstar machines using Dogecoin or other cryptocurrencies.

The phone number used for the scam calls, when searched on Google, appears to be associated with the Cumberland County Courthouse.

Authorities urge anyone who receives such calls not to engage with the scammer.

Instead, they should contact the courthouse directly at 207-822-4200 to verify the legitimacy of the call.

Officials have clarified that the courthouse will never request payments over the phone.