At the turn of tonight’s weekly close, Bitcoin will have reached 144 weeks from the asset’s all-time high at $20,000. On this crucial date, Bitcoin price is currently trading at roughly 50% from the high. But it could be the last time the asset is priced any lower, according to the previous bull market and this mysterious number.
Why is the number 144 so special to financial markets, and what could this mean for the first-ever cryptocurrency?
Does Time and Date Matter As Much To Financial Markets As Price, Patterns, And More?
According to Wikipedia, math is so powerful and mystical that there is “no generally accepted definition for the term.”
It includes the study of quantity, structure, space, and change – all of which relate to financial markets in ways not fully understood.
Assets are bought and sold in various quantities, market structure takes on different shapes, and prices frequently change across space and time.
Related Reading | Ancient Math May Be the Key to Making Crypto Bull Market Riches
Geometrical shapes make up trend lines or chart patterns, while algebraic formulas are the base of most trading indicators. Each degree of an angle is broken down into 60 “minutes” and then further into 60 “seconds.”
This is precisely where the concept of time came from, and why each hour is broken down to 60 minutes and then each minute into 60 seconds.
Now here’s where the math begins to add up but doesn’t exactly make perfect sense. Ancient Babylonians chose 60 because it has the most amount of divisors. And because the same number is behind every angle, circles are comprised of 360 degrees. The Earth’s rotation is very close at 365 days a year.
We now have a year matching a circle, minutes, and seconds matching each degree’s subsections in an angle, but what about hours and squares? This is where the significance of 144 comes into play.
Gann's Square of 144 Gold XAUUSD 60-Year Cycle Example | Source: TradingView
Each day is 24 hours, consisting of two 12-hour cycles of day and night. 12 squared, just so happens to equal 144. These numbers magically add up, subtract, multiply, and divide a variety of ways. For example, the divisor six of 60 minutes or seconds times 24 equals 144. Each degree broken down into 60 minutes and 60 seconds results in a sum of 3600 parts, which, as we know, is just one decimal place off from a perfect circle.
The coincidences get even more unusual, deeper diving into mathematics. 144 is also a Fibonacci number, and just so happens to be the 12th number in the sequence.
This math lesson demonstrates something important going on with the number 144 as it relates to change, structure, quantity, and space. And due to the way it relates to hours, days, minutes, and seconds, there is also something connected to time itself.
Few traders have recognized the significance of these numbers and how financial markets react with geometry and time. One such trader earned himself both legendary status and was finger-pointed as a hoax. Today, the learnings and tools left behind by William Delbert Gann may shed some light on what to expect in Bitcoin in the days ahead.
BTCUSD Weekly 144 Weeks | Source: TradingView
144 Weeks Have Passed Since Bitcoin Set Its All-Time High At $20,000
Looking at the chart above, a few things are clear. Bitcoin is trading at roughly 50% the asset’s all-time high — another key mathematical level we’ll revisit shortly.
It’s also been exactly 144 weeks since that high was put in, and according to Gann, big things happen when 144 rolls around.
Related Reading | Can Astrology Predict Bitcoin Price Cycles?
Finally, a retest of both $10,000 and downtrend resistance is taking place, and the crypto asset is at a significant crossroads where it either proves stock-to-flow models to be correct, or lengthening cycle theories. How markets react to that conclusion could shape the trend ahead.
Gann put enormous weight in numbers, angles, dates, and time. He used astrology to time market tops bottoms. Astrology is the belief that everything is written in the stars, and that figuring it out is the key to divinity or, in Gann’s case, legendary trader status.
BTCUSD Weekly Gann Fan Example | Source: TradingView
Gann’s tools — although unorthodox — are still used today. For example, the Gann fan pictured above shows that Bitcoin almost wholly broke out of fan resistance from all-time high, but suffered a pullback. Is a full breakout next at 144 weeks?
The Gann box is yet another tool, this time using Fibonacci retracement levels and time-based fibs to find major turning points. Bitcoin is currently retesting the 0.5 Fibonacci – or 50% the asset’s former peak price – at the pivotal moment of week 144. The moment also lines up with the “golden” 0.618 time fib. Note how other time-fibs line up with significant turning points in Bitcoin trends over the last few years.
BTCUSD Weekly Gann Box Example | Source: TradingView
Lastly, the Gann square uses angles, circular fib projection, horizontal and vertical lines to plot potential support and resistance levels based on time and geometry.
Setting the tool across both of the last of the two bull market peaks, and ending it at 144 weeks, perfectly aligns both cycles with support, resistance, time, and if history repeats — the last time the cryptocurrency ever trades below the 0.5 fib level of $10,000.
BTCUSD Weekly Gann Square 2014-2017 & 2018-2020 Comparison Chart Source: TradingView
From there, a new uptrend began. It’s now week 144 once again, and Bitcoin is at its most critical moment ever. If $10,000 holds for tonight’s close, the uptrend could be here. However, losing the level could signal a major turn in Bitcoin for a long time to come.
