Bitcoin has broken past a key technical level that's signaling it could surge another 22% near record highs, analyst says

• Bitcoin could surge another 22% after breaking above a key technical level, according to Fairlead Strategies' Katie Stockton.
• Stockton sees bitcoin testing its "final resistance" at about $64,900, which is just below its record high.
• Bitcoin has surged 26% year-to-date and is up 126% over the past year.

The rally in bitcoin could have further room to run after a key technical breakout occurred on Sunday, according to Fairlead Strategies founder Katie Stockton.

Stockton told clients in a note on Monday that bitcoin confirmed its breakout above the $48,600 resistance level, in what is "an intermediate-term bullish development on its chart."

Bitcoin jumped 3.2% on Monday to $53,393, representing its highest level since November 2021. The crypto token is up 26% year-to-date and is up 126% over the past year.

While short-term technical indicators suggest there could be a period of consolidation in the days ahead, the uptrend should ultimately continue to its near-term and "final" resistance levels of $56,400 and $64,900, respectively, according to Stockton.

"Bitcoin has positive long-term momentum per our trend-following indicators, and there are no overbought 'sell' signals on the monthly chart," Stockton said in a note last week.

A bitcoin surge to $64,900 would represent potential upside of 22% from current levels, and it would put the cryptocurrency to just a few thousand dollars below its record high of about $69,000, which was reached in November 2021.

Recent catalysts impacting the price of bitcoin include the launch of several spot bitcoin ETFs last month, which have already attracted billions of dollars in assets. 

Looking ahead, bitcoin investors are focused on the halving event, which is scheduled to occur in April. The halving event will cut miners' bitcoin reward in half once implemented, which will further limit the supply of new minted bitcoins. 

Prior halving events in 2020, 2016, and 2012 have all preceded massive rallies in the cryptocurrency.

One crypto investor who believes there's still plenty of upside left in bitcoin is MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor. 

Saylor said in a post to X on Monday that MicroStrategy acquired an additional 3,000 bitcoin for about $155 million. The company now owns 193,000 bitcoin acquired at an average price of $31,544. The position is now worth more than $10 billion, with about $4 billion in unrealized gains.