Popular trader suggests bitcoin might have begun a new bull market

It's no secret that bitcoin has been on an upward tear of late. The number one cryptocurrency by market cap reignited collective hopes of a 2020 bull run after it posted a 16% year-to-date increase. Now, pouring a healthy measure of gasoline on the flames of speculation, analyst Peter Brandt believes bitcoin may be edging closer to a brand new bull market.

The price of bitcoin has been in a six-month downtrend, he noted. But, with the milestone of $8,000 surmounted, bitcoin may have just broken out of this downtrend. With the chart he posted, the current price appears to have just popped out of the channel. This is a sign for traders that the bear market may be over and that price might start to flatten, or head back up.

And this appears to match up with the long term picture too. Brandt noted that the price apears to have bounced upwards off a support line that has been around for several years.

If his analysis is right, it could be the start of another bull market for bitcoin—albeit in the very early stages.

While airing on the optimistic side, Brandt did provide one critical caveat. According to the trader, an overabundance of bullish sentiment may be penning the market down. Back in November last year, Brandt opined that bulls "must first be fully purged" to observe a buy signal. It seems the analyst is echoing that sentiment once again, proposing that the bull market will only begin if enough "cryptocultists have been shaken out."

But judging by the recent culture wars between various factions of the crypto community over a simple news site that was launched recently, the cryptocultists are still here.