Bitcoin (BTC) shot to new highs of $42,400 on July 31 in a surprise attack on a range resistance that sellers failed to squash.

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Bitcoin seals 10 green candles in first since 2012

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD gaining for a tenth straight day across exchanges, reaching $42,420 on Bitstamp.

A subsequent cooling-off preserved most of the gains, with Bitcoin circling $41,900 at the time of writing, still up over 8% over the past 24 hours.

In trading circles, talk focused on a rare performance for the Bitcoin daily chart — ten green candles in a row, which last occurred in 2012.

Even eight days of consecutive gains are a rarity, while nine have been seen only twice. Depending on the exchange, the data can be slightly different — Coinbase saw 12 green candles one after another in May 2017, one Twitter user noted.

Regardless, on one hand, Bitcoin’s strength was conspicuousness; on the other, there was a lack of bearish selling pressure.

A glance at short activity on major exchange Bitfinex underscored the current mood, with hardly any trader willing to take on the risk of shorting the Bitcoin spot price at current levels.

BTC/USD shorts 1-day candle chart (Bitfinex). Source: TradingView

"BTC just tapped 42k as resistance for the first time since the epic drop in May," popular trader Scott Melker summarized on the day.

"Time to pay attention."

Cracks appear in Bitcoin's ceiling

As Cointelegraph reported, $42,000 represents the final resistance hurdle in Bitcoin's multi-month trading range. Since coming down from all-time highs and falling through the level, which also represents the previous all-time from February, it has acted as a de facto unchallenged price ceiling.

Related: Price analysis 7/30: BTC, ETH, BNB, ADA, XRP, DOGE, DOT, UNI, BCH, LTC

Above, orderbook data shows, little lies in Bitcoin's way — $45,000 or even $47,000 could easily be next, a hypothesis also supported by whale investing behavior.

BTC/USD buy and sell positions (Binance) as of July 31. Source: Material Indicators/Twitter

According to the popular and historically accurate stock-to-flow Bitcoin price forecasting models, the spot price should still be much higher — $94,839 on Saturday.

Nonetheless, its creator, PlanB, has said that a monthly close of at least $47,000 for BTC/USD in August would be enough for progress to remain on track.