Bitcoin just flashed a bullish golden cross signal. Here's what that means for the top crypto.

The golden cross — a rare buy signal bitcoin bulls have been waiting for — has flashed this week.

The world's largest cryptocurrency flashed a golden cross on Tuesday. It's a bullish pattern watched by technical analysts that occurs when an asset's 50-day moving average crosses above its 200-day moving average.

It's the first golden cross bitcoin has flashed in over a year, with the last signal appearing in May 2025, according to an analysis of Bespoke Investment.

The golden cross has historically preceded further upside in an asset's price, which is exactly what investors struggling through bitcoin's brutal nine-month bear market have been waiting for. The crypto shed more than half of its value from its October 2025 peak through its low of around $59,100 this summer.

"Such a signal is typically followed by accelerated growth," Kuptsikevich wrote Alex Kuptsikevich, the chief market analyst at FxPro, wrote of the golden cross in a note on Wednesday.

Paul Meeks, the head of technology research at Freedom Capital Markets, said he believed the rally that triggered bitcoin's golden cross was being driven by four main factors:

The coin has been oversold. Bitcoin was likely undervalued in the depths of its latest winter, meaning the rally is being partly driven by a natural "bounce back," Meeks told Business Insider in a call. Bitcoin traded around $79,300 on Wednesday, up 34% since the start of July. The token is still down 58% from its all-time high of around $126,000.