Bitcoin (BTC) began to see much-welcomed volatility to the upside on Feb. 23 as European markets opened with modest upside.

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

$39,600 set to spark “heavy resistance”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD rapidly gaining Wednesday, hitting $39,000 before consolidating.

The pair had staged a steady comeback overnight, with progress totalling 6.8% versus Tuesday’s lows.

“Seems I’m not getting that little pull back but continuation higher already. Doesn’t change the structure really much. $40k is key level,” popular trader Crypto Ed reacted

Previously, Crypto Ed had warned that any push toward the $40,000 level could well end up as a relief bounce followed by an even deeper correction than that seen this week. 

Summarizing the short-term scenario, meanwhile, fellow trader and analyst Matthew Hyland presented $36,300 and $33,000 as the support levels in play. For him, $39,600 was once again the upside resistance zone to clear, as it had been earlier in February.

BTC/USD annotated chart. Source: Matthew Hyland/Twitter

“Expect heavy resistance and likely rejection in the 39.5-40k area if we get there,” Twitter account Cheds added.

After Tuesday’s lows entered, analytics tool Material Indicators had, meanwhile, eyed an uptick in buyer behavior after days of indecision.

“Market buyers finally got off their hands and started pushing the green button,” it announced on Twitter alongside a chart showing increasing order volumes of both large and small buys.

Meanwhile, a look at order book data from major exchange Binance on Wednesday showed BTC/USD beginning to tackle a band of resistance with its latest move higher.

Binance order book data chart. Source: Material Indicators

Altcoins bounce back with “altseason” talk in the air

A good day was being had by altcoins on Wednesday, with major tokens beating Bitcoin’s own solid 24-hour performance.

Related: ‘You’d better buy some Bitcoin’ — BTC figures defy Canada gov’t as ETF assets hit record

Ether (ETH) was up 6.1% to $2,700 at the time of writing, indicative of many of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

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

The list was led by another solid run from Terra (LUNA), which gained 14% over the same period, followed by Avalanche (AVAX) on 11.8% and Cardano (ADA) on 9.7%. 

Talk of an upcoming “altseason,” meanwhile, also remained popular on social media.