Bitcoin (bitcoin) made a fresh retest of the $38,000 resistance level on Jan. 26 as optimism for a potential recovery to $40,000 and higher increased.

BTC/USD 1 hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Next stop $40,000 retest?

data from Cointelegraph Market Pro and Transaction view Follow BTC/USD to continue the rally that started Monday.

At the time of writing, there have been two breakouts of $38,000, with the pair hovering below that level in further directional clues.

For Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, the signs are encouraging, a possible exit from the $30,000 to $40,000 corridor.

“Bitcoin holds $36k and has tested $38k. If it tests again, we will likely break out and possibly test $40.70,” he said Tell Twitter followers.

Trader, analyst and podcast host Scott Melker, dubbed the “Wolf of Wall Street”, is almost equally bullish on the short-term.

“The target is $39,600, which as you know ‘coincidentally’ is key resistance on higher time frames,” he said in his latest Twitter update, identifying a cup and handle pattern on the hourly chart.

He added that $39,600 remains important as an area worth challenging even if the general trend calls for Bitcoin to continue its decline.

Dogecoin gains more than major cryptocurrencies

At the same time, with ether (Ethereum) rose another 4.3% over the past 24 hours to trade above $2,500.

ETH/USD 1-hour candlestick (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

related: Eth2 no longer exists after Ethereum Foundation drops name in rebrand

Still, the largest altcoin by market cap was outperformed by several of its peers, including Solana (Sol) and Ripple.

However, the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap are led by Dogecoin (Governor), an increase of about 10% over the same period.

The move comes with a new pitch from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said he Commit to a McDonald’s Happy Meal If the fast food giant chooses to accept DOGE as payment, that’s what’s on TV.

At the time of writing, DOGE/USD is trading at $0.15, still around 9% lower than a week ago.