TL;DR
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH) gains attention as a potential 2026 leader, trading near $650 and approaching a one-year high against BTC.
- Derivatives data shows strong bullish positioning, with open interest at $434M and a 55% long skew.
- Key technical levels: support at $600–$610, with resistance up to $740; the major long-term target is $800.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) holds the line and returns to traders’ radar. Veteran analyst Peter Brandt names BCH as a potential leader for 2026, after several weeks of relative strength. Early in the year, BCH trades near $650.55, after hovering around $600 and breaking upward from a tight December range. In BTC terms, price hovers near a one-year high around 0.0070 BTC.
Enough with the politics – the year of trading begins$BABA set for breakout from falling wedge$BCH is leading the charge pic.twitter.com/wSiy2Z1olQ
— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) January 5, 2026
Open interest tops $434 million, near the upper band for the past 12 months. Positioning skews 55% long, a sign of risk appetite at current levels. Mindshare reads 0.1 with a 131% daily jump, a one-month peak that signals growing visibility across desks and forums. Liquidity remains firm, and traders track follow-through as the week unfolds.
Order books show a sell wall up to $740, while liquidation maps cluster shorts up to $690. Price has failed to clear $800 on a sustained basis for three years, a line that still frames upside potential. Even so, BCH rebounded from $275 in April 2025 and reclaimed key ranges into year-end.
Broader beta remains muted: the altcoin season index prints 26 in January, a reading consistent with Bitcoin season. In ese contexto, BCH ranks among the top-10 quarterly gainers, an outlier inside a market that still favors large-cap liquidity.
Supply mechanics add another layer
Bitcoin Cash hashrate holds near 8 EH/s, while network difficulty sits near a peak, roughly double the level from March 2025. Miner economics tilt supportive: average daily revenue screens around $0.041 per unit of compute for BCH, compared with $0.039 for BTC. Healthier miner cash flow keeps rigs online, sustains security, and can reduce forced selling from hedges. A firmer mining base often dampens supply shocks during volatile sessions.
First, defend $600–$610 as a support shelf after the breakout. Second, reclaim $690–$740 to run clustered shorts and clear near-term overhead. Third, press into $800 with expanding spot and perp volume to convert a rebound into a trend. Failing to meet those conditions invites fast givebacks in a tape still dominated by BTC flows and quarter-open repositioning.
