Bitcoin spikes to $44.5K amid fresh warning over 'exceptionally high' stocks correlation

Bitcoin (BTC) passed $44,500 at the Wall Street open on Feb. 15 with traders compounding overnight enthusiasm.

Resistance attacks slowly form

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked local highs of $44,543 for BTC/USD on Bitstamp.

Already up over 6% on the day, the pair saw a slow return to resistance levels after abruptly halting a multi-day downtrend toward the $40,000 mark.

As Cointelegraph reported, events in Canada had appeared to spawn a comeback, while news that Russia was potentially taking steps to deescalate tensions on the border of Ukraine had no discernible impact on crypto markets.

Stocks were more relieved, with the S&P 500 up 1.4% during the first hour of trading.

"Bitcoin has broken out from its downtrending channel and reclaimed the 4HR range it had lost only a few days ago," a hopeful Rekt Capital summarized in a fresh Twitter update on the day.

He added that on longer timeframes, Bitcoin was attempting to crack the 50-week moving average to flip to support.

"Turn it into support and this would confirm bullish bias for BTC," he wrote.

Not everyone was as confident, with popular trading account Johnny demanding a flip of the yearly open above $46,000 to avoid waiting to "buy back lower" than current levels.

Stocks risk meets buyer power

Turning to on-chain data, the picture nonetheless called for "cautious optimism" based on buying behavior, despite macro risks.

Related: ‘Up only’ for BTC fundamentals — 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week

According to Twitter analytics account Ecoinometrics, investors both big and small making BTC allocations countered potential pressure on Bitcoin from falling stocks in the event of a rate hike from the United States Federal Reserve.

"The whales are buying. The small fish are buying. That's all good for Bitcoin," it wrote.

Analysts highlighted "exceptionally high" stocks correlation under current circumstances, thus increasing the potential for a deeper Bitcoin price correction should macro policy change.

"That means anything that could crush the SP500 is also a big risk for BTC," it added.