Bitcoin Breaks Downtrend: Analyst Cites Higher High and Bullish Momentum

Bitcoin has broken its year-long downtrend according to analyst Gert van Lagen. On September 21, he declared that Bitcoin had printed its first higher high since topping out near $126K, which he calls a definitive break of the downtrend.

According to technical analysis, a 'higher high' is a price peak that exceeds the previous one. Without it, every rally is just a bounce inside a bearish trend. Bitcoin's failure to produce a higher high for an entire year meant that every rally since the $126K peak was structurally speaking just a lower high inside a bearish trend.

Van Lagen argues that this pattern has now broken, shifting the technical backdrop from bearish to potentially bullish. He has maintained a consistently optimistic long-term view throughout 2025 and 2026, frequently citing Elliott Wave patterns, post-halving historical behavior, and trendline analysis.