Crypto-related companies started the week on a positive footing after bitcoin broke through the $72,000 mark for the first time since mid-March. 

Shares of Nasdaq-listed Coinbase and MicroStrategy gained 8% and 12%, respectively, during early morning trading in New York. Coinbase shares increased above $260 and MicroStrategy stock surged above the $1,600 mark in the past 24 hours, at 10:00 a.m. ET, according to TradingView data.

Coinbase price target increased

Last week, New York-based financial firm Oppenheimer increased Coinbase's share price target to $276, up from a previous target of $200, while reiterating its buy rating. The increased price target to $276 from Oppenheimer is around 6% higher than Monday's opening share price for Coinbase.

"We estimate that COIN's 1Q24 trading volume would be up 95% quarter-on-quarter, and 107% year-on-year to $300 billion." Oppenheimer analyst Owen Lau said in a note. 

Bullish forecast for MicroStrategy

As reported on MarketWatch, Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer increased his price target for MicroStrategy stock to $1,875 from $990 and reiterated his buy rating in an investor note on Monday. The new target implies around a 17% upside from today's opening price.

According to The Block's Data Dashboard, MicroStrategy's bitcoin holdings now number 214,250 as of the company's March filing.

In March, MicroStrategy acquired 9,245 more bitcoin for $623 million in cash. With this recent purchase, the company now holds over 1% of the total bitcoin supply.

Bitcoin long-term holder supply decreases

However, according to this week's Bitfinex Alpha report, bitcoin sell pressure could arise from a reduction in the digital asset's supply held by long-term holders.

"Since reaching a peak of 14.91 million bitcoin held by long-term holders in December 2023, the supply now
within the long-term holder cohort is down by approximately 900,000 bitcoin. Notably, outflows from the
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) account for about one-third of this reduction, amounting to around 286,000 BTC +1.65% ," Bitfinex analysts said.

Monday's report added that the supply held by short-term holders has increased by 1.121 million bitcoin. "This rise not only offsets the distribution pressure from long-term holders but also indicates additional acquisition of about 121,000 bitcoin from the secondary market, including exchanges," the analysts said.

For reference, since spot bitcoin ETFs began trading on January 11, the amount of bitcoin held by such ETFs has increased from 621,390 to 836,120, according to The Block's data page.