A widely followed cryptocurrency analyst says Bitcoin (BTC) could ignite a rally like the one witnessed last cycle if history repeats itself.

The analyst, pseudonymously known as Kaleo, tells his 704,200 followers on the social media platform X that in 2020, Bitcoin sparked parabolic rallies to new all-time highs after the stock market had fully recovered from the COVID-19 crash and broke out to new record highs.

According to Kaleo, the S&P 500 stock index is “once again on the verge of breaking out to new all-time highs” following the correction that resulted from the imposition of tariffs on trade partners by the US.

“I believe we see history repeat itself, and as equities break out – Bitcoin does the same and significantly outperforms.”

As of Friday’s close, the S&P 500 is trading at 5,967 points, down by just about 3% from its record high of 6,147 points.

The pseudonymous analyst further says that, unlike in the previous cycles, Bitcoin is now attracting new sources of demand. According to Kaleo, this is a reason to “be more bullish” on the flagship crypto asset.

“This is the first cycle with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Something we dreamed of in previous cycles, but never saw come to fruition. This allows potential investment of new capital into BTC at a rate we’ve never seen before.

Countries and corporations are starting to build BTC reserves. El Salvador, Tesla, Gamestop, and others are only the first dominoes to fall.

We finally have a pro-crypto president in the US pushing for pro-industry regulation.

The tech and infrastructure of the industry is also better than it’s ever been. [Decentralized Applications] DApps are more advanced, BTC is being used as a development layer, and the number of places that accept BTC as a form of payment is higher than it’s ever been before.”

Bitcoin is trading at $104,143 at time of writing, down by around 7% from the all-time high reached last month.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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Forward-looking: Recent big game releases appear to confirm that ray tracing and path tracing are the future of graphics rendering. However, these techniques remain prohibitively computationally expensive. The next major update to Microsoft’s DirectX API aims to address this and facilitate broader adoption of the technology.

Microsoft’s GDC presentation this week offered a glimpse into the future of DirectX ray tracing support. The company claims that DirectX Raytracing 1.2 could help developers double the performance of ray tracing and path tracing.

Two key features underpin the update: opacity micromaps (OMM) and shader execution reordering (SER). OMM can help path-traced games run up to 2.3 times faster by reducing shader invocations and optimizing opacity data to enhance rendering efficiency. Meanwhile, SER intelligently groups shader execution to minimize divergence, improving performance by up to 2 times.

Although ray tracing first emerged as a flashy extra feature in games like Battlefield V and Cyberpunk 2077, recent titles have made it mandatory, indicating that it will soon become standard. Examples include Star Wars Outlaws, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Path tracing is a more advanced form of ray tracing that significantly improves the accuracy of dynamic lighting and shadows but comes with substantial performance costs. It typically requires high-end GPUs to run effectively in games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, Black Myth: Wukong, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and the recently released Half-Life 2 RTX demo. Doom: The Dark Ages, launching in May, will also require ray tracing and offer optional path tracing.

Also see: Path Tracing vs. Ray Tracing, Explained

DirectX Raytracing 1.2 will become available to developers starting next month. As a result, ray tracing and path tracing could become significantly less demanding in new games over the next few years. Unsurprisingly, Nvidia’s RTX graphics cards will support the API update first, while Microsoft is collaborating with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm to expand support.

Microsoft also shared more details on cooperative vectors and neural rendering, which aim to integrate AI workloads into real-time graphics rendering. A new foundational feature, Neural Block Texture Compression, significantly reduces memory usage – potentially benefiting users with GPUs that have 12 GB of VRAM or less. Additionally, neural supersampling and denoising are expected to enhance image quality in path-traced games.

DirectX neural rendering and cooperative vector support first appeared in January. Microsoft explained that neural rendering optimizes matrix-vector operations for AI training and enables smaller neural networks to run efficiently during GPU shading processes.

Cryptocurrency analyst and trader Ali Martinez is leaning bearish on a Solana (SOL) competitor.

Martinez tells his 130,100 followers on the social media platform X that Sui (SUI) faces the risk of a “sharp correction” amid the formation of a bearish pattern.

“Since November 2024, Sui has been shaping a head and shoulders pattern with the neckline at $3 serving as a crucial support level. And the price action seen in the last few weeks helped form the pattern’s right shoulder, which is not a positive sign. After the recent break of the $3 support level, the odds have increased significantly for a 40% correction that takes Sui to $1.60.”

Sui is trading at $2.73 at time of writing, down by around 48% from the all-time high price of $5.35 reached early in January.

Next up is Bitcoin (BTC). On the potential move the crypto king is likely to make next, Martinez says,

“Bitcoin is consolidating within a triangle, setting the stage for a potential 20% price move!”

The crypto analyst further says that based on data from the blockchain analytics platform Glassnode, the supply of Bitcoin in the hands of long-term holders – entities that have kept their coins dormant for over 155 days – grew between February 11th and March 5th. The supply of Bitcoin currently in the hands of long-term holders stands at 13,195,498 BTC.

“Long-term holders are accumulating! The supply held by long-term holders has increased by 85,000 Bitcoin in the past month.”

Bitcoin is trading at $89,170 at time of writing.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney