Bitcoin BTC +4.36% , along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, may trend higher following the liquidation of highly elevated leveraged positions before the halving, an analyst said Tuesday.

The week leading up to last Saturday's bitcoin halving saw a flush-out of a substantial amount of leveraged long positions, when bitcoin fell to a recent low below the $60,000 level.

Lower leverage conditions

However, according to a Standard Chartered Bank analyst note led by Geoffrey Kendrick, present market conditions are characterized by lower leverage, and this environment could potentially facilitate the appreciation of the bitcoin's price.

"We think the worst is over and a less leveraged digital assets market can now re-trend higher," Kendrick said.

The recent sell-off removed a significant amount of leveraged longs, according to Kendrick, with over $261 million of bitcoin longs liquidated on April 13 alone.

"April 13 was the largest daily liquidation since at least October 2023, this clears the path for a move higher, particularly since the bad news is already in the price, in our view," Kendrick added.

End of 2024 price targets remain unchanged

Tuesday's note also reiterated Standard Chartered's end-of-2024 target price levels of $150,000 for bitcoin, and $8,000 for ether.

Bitcoin increased 0.5% in the past 24 hours and was changing hands for $66,700 at 1:32 p.m. ET., according to The Block's Price Pages. Data from the block shows ether posting a 0.8% rise to $3,234 in the same period.

The total cryptocurrency market cap posted an increase of 1.5% in the last 24 hours, and is currently standing at $2.59 trillion, according to CoinGecko. The GM 30 Index, representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, increased by 0.83% to 138.50 in the past 24 hours.