…Ron Levy, CEO and co-founder of The Crypto Company, is in the bullish camp, too.

“While bitcoin is significantly down from its peak in November, it is still up 7% for the year,” he said. “In 2021, the world saw institutions come on board at substantial growth rates, and in addition to a plethora of other bullish sentiments, the real challenge would be to find a reason why bitcoin will not remain bullish.”

Still, there’s the bearish case.

“The Band-Aid seems to have been ripped off as far as bitcoin’s price action goes, and a local bottom appears to have formed around $33,000,” said Michal Cymbalisty, founder of Domination Finance. “Bitcoin has rebounded nearly 20% and is trading around $39,000 with bulls slowly reemerging onto the scene.

“Unfortunately, I expect the ‘only up’ cries to be short-lived. If I were to guess, bitcoin would trade in a “crab range,” spending the most time in the mid to upper 30s range, with temporary breakouts and breakdowns into the lower 40s and lower 30s, respectively.”

And rising interest rates may “lay precedent for macro-oriented investors to sell any type of relief rallies over the coming month,” according to Cymbalisty.

Meanwhile, Robert Johnson, a business professor at Creighton University, thinks that the bearish case is stronger than the bullish case.

“Predicting the direction of speculative assets in the short term is fraught with peril,” he said. “To quote that baseball philosopher Yogi Berra, ‘It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.’

“However, given the highly speculative nature of bitcoin and the likely Fed tightening, the bearish case for bitcoin is stronger than the bullish case.”